A Book, A Note, And Some Guests
by Ingradera
Summary: The gods receive a book, a note, and some special guests. These things and people are meant to prepare them for the future. So the gods welcome their children and begin to read the first book. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Sorry rubbish summary.
1. Introductions

** Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, or any other part of the series.**

Introductions

This winter solstice meeting when the same as any other, Poseidon and Zeus arguing about everything and nothing, just as they always do. Many of the other gods had stopped listening to them ages ago in favour for their own conversations, that is until a bright golden light shone around the council room of Olympus.

All heads turned towards the light and waited for it to fade, and when it eventually did, they were shocked by what they saw.

Twelve demigods were stood in the middle of the thrones, all looking confused, other that one girl, who after noticing where they were, looked around, her grey eyes inspecting everyone, as though she was looking for one person in particular, and she seemed quite disappointed when she didn't find them.

A piece of paper slowly fluttered down and landed in front of the grey eyed, blond haired girl, who picked it up and scowled at it for a few moment, before Zeus snapped, "Well are you going to tell us what it says or not!"

The girl looked up at the lord of the gods, while a girl who appeared the same age as her, rolled her blue eyes at the god, as the first girl spoke to Zeus, "I'm sorry Lord Zeus."

Just at this point he wasn't listening, opting instead to stare at the second girl, who looked so much like his daughter Thalia.

The Blond began to read, "Gods, Demigods and Oracles,

Soon five books will appear before you. These books are about the life of a certain demigod and they will also show you a future that is to come. However much you may wish to change what you read, please don't, what has happened must happen.

We're having a bit of trouble getting through to Camp Jupiter, but we hope to fix that too. So anyway, happy reading.

For the amazing,

Apollo and Hermes.

P.S. spoilers are not allowed."

After she finished reading this she looked up to find said gods grinning at each other, before Apollo exclaimed, "Well if we're sending them books this must be good!"

Hera sighed, while her husband said, "Well if you have to be here, you might as well introduce yourselves," his eyes still on the dark haired girl.

The blond who read the note stepped forward, "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." She shot a small smile towards her mother, who noticed that it didn't seem to reach her eyes, and started to wonder what had happened to make her so sad.

Following her was the Thalia look-alike, "Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Huntress of Artemis," she stated while moving back to Annabeth's side and put an arm around the teen's shoulders.

"Thalia, what on earth you're a tree, what happened?" Zeus asked from across the throne room, while Hera looked quite disappointed to find her step-daughter alive.

"Lets just say that I have good friends."

At this a small, sad smile appeared upon Annabeth's face.

Two kids with elf-like features stood forward, "Connor and," said the one on the left.

"Travis Stoll" said the other.

"Sons of Hermes." They finished together.

At this Hermes jumped up in delight at the fact his kids were there, much to their amusement, but then he seemed to recover himself and looked around the rest of the kids and asked, while looking quite confused, "wait where is Luke?"

No one said anything and it may have been the gods imaginations, but the temperature in the room appeared to lower by a few degrees. Most of the demigods turned to face Athena's daughter, who looked up at first the messenger god, and then looked around all of the faces of the other gods before turning back to face Hermes, and answering his question, "Could you please try and save your questions for later, because I'm sure you're all going to have a lot to ask, but if the books are about who I think they are about, then most of the questions will be answered with time."

"Who are the books about?" Asked the girl's mother, desperate to find out something that she doesn't know.

"A very close friend who is currently missing, and please, before you ask why I think they are about him, to be honest I'm not sure who else they could be about."

Athena looked contempt with this knowledge, for now.

Another girl stepped forward, "Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter."

"Katie!" Cried the goddess of agriculture, "Have you been eating plenty of cereal?"

The girl in question just rolled her eyes, and signalled for the guy next to her to speak.

"Will Solace, son of Apollo," said the boy with blond hair and blue eyes, who received a grin from the god mentioned.

"Clarise La Rue, daughter of Ares." Belched the burly girl, who stood quite close to Will. The only acknowledgment she got from her father was a small, almost unheard grunt, which didn't seem to fuss the girl at all.

"Rachel Dare, oracle of Delphi." The mortal said, introducing herself.

"YES!" exclaimed one sun god, "Finally my oracle has a new host, and a not bad looking one at that," he finished, as he shot a wink at the girl mentioned, who blushed in response, while the gods twin shook her head, while thinking, why oh why do I have to be related to him?

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite," said the girl, who stood near the edge of the group, with two boys.

This earned her a squeal from her mother, which caused her to wince.

"Leo Valdez, soon of Hephaestus." Said the boy with black hair by Pipers side, his father nodded at him, with a fond smile playing upon his lips.

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

Zeus' from swapped for less than a second between him, and his Roman counterpart.

Athena got the look in her eyes, that only appeared when she was thinking hard, what are Greeks doing with a Roman? She thought to herself, not voicing the question, because she remembered that they were asked not to answer any questions, just she didn't have to keep it to herself, because every other god or goddess in the room with half a brain started to demand to know the same thing, before Zeus' daughter spoke up.

"Can you remember a few minuet ago, when you were asked not to ask any questions? Everything will be answered soon," she lowered her voice quite drastically, so that only her best friend by her side could hear her next words, "I hope."

The kind of the gods noticed that they was one boy who had yet to name himself, standing half hidden in shadows, "And who are you?" He asked.

The kid looked up, and glanced towards Hades, so fast that no one caught it. "Before I tell you who I am, I would like to tell you that I was born before the Second World War, and was placed in the Lotus Casino, with my older sister for several decades." He paused for a moment for t his to sink in, before continuing, "My name is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

To his surprise the council didn't explode at this, and his father even sent a small, and kind of scary smile towards his son.

"Well isn't this lovely, now where are these books that we are meant to be reading," asked everyone favourite god of wine, and just then the bright light returned, and when it finally faded, a single paperback book could be seen sat in the middle of the throne room.

Athena's daughter looked up at the lord of the sky, who guessing her question nodded, and when she saw this she walked towards the book picked it up, looked at the title and a small smile danced on her lips. She then made her way back to her friends, before reading out the title, "It appears that we will be reading 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'"

Only she noticed how Poseidon's eyes widened slightly as Percy's name was mentioned.

She was going to start reading then, but a voice from the hearth interrupted her unspoken words, "Perhaps we shrink to our human sizes, and get some chairs for the kids, and perhaps we should also call Persephone up from the underworld too?"

No one wanted to tell the kind-hearted Hestia no, so all the gods shrunk, as twelve chairs appeared for the demigods and oracle, while Hades went to get his wife.

Once they were seated, Annabeth opened the book and began to read.

**This is my first story uploaded, so please review. Also I'm going to try and update every Sunday, and just on Sundays, which also means if I write more than one chapter during the week, you get more than one.**

**~Ingradera**


	2. I Accidentally Vaporise My Pre-Algebra

**Disclaimer: I own nothing****  
**

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER **

Leo laughed, while Nico pretended to wipe a tear from him eyes, laughing also as he tried to speak, "only Percy, only Percy."

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. **

Nods of agreement travelled around the demigods, while Poseidon flinched slightly.

"How come you all don't like being demigods?" asked Zeus.

"Well," started Connor, "There's the fact that monsters are always after you."

"The fact that your godly parent ignores you most of the time, unless they want you." said Travis

Thalia added, "The fact that your godly parent never visits you as you're growing up."

"The face your mortal parent may start ignoring you, because you remind them of your other parent." Injected Piper

"The fact that you don't fit in, in the normal world." Leo put in.

"The fact that if your mortal parent moves on, their new partner will blame you for anything dangerous that happens." Concluded Annabeth.

At each point all of the gods and goddesses with children winced, before Annabeth continued reading.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. **

"Good advice from Kelp Head," muttered Thalia so the gods wouldn't hear, "Too bad that won't work."

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **

"Well unless you're amazing," Nico said to try and brighten up the mood in the room, while secretly being happy about the guilt that shone on most of the gods' faces.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. **

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. **

"He makes it sound so dramatic," commented Connor

"Yeah like the CIA are after us all or something." Added Travis

"Oh leave him alone." Said Annabeth.

Aphrodite sat up a little straighter noticing the love behind her word, and her actions weren't missed by Athena, who narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

**Don't say I didn't warn you. **

"YOU DIDN'T WARN US!" Yelled Nico, Leo, Hermes and Apollo, causing most of the occupants of the room to start laughing.

**My name is Percy Jackson. **

"We would never have guessed that punk. Thank for clearing it up for up," Ares said sarcastically.

Clarise sniggered slightly at her dad's words, while the Pacific Ocean soaked the war god, but before anyone could ask why Annabeth quickly read on.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid? **

"Yes!" Coursed the demigods

**Yeah. You could say that. **

Many who had screamed yes were now laughing at the fact that even Percy confirmed it.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. **

"Urg," Groaned Hermes and Apollo.

"What's so bad about that?" asked Athena, honestly confused at their reactions.

"What other than the face that it sounds like torture?" Poseidon asked innocently.

**I know-it sounds like torture. **

"He thinks like Poseidon? That's not good news," commented Athena.

"Like farther, like son," muttered Annabeth, so that only the demigods would hear, causing them to laugh, while the gods looked upon them with confusion, other than Poseidon, who was too busy grinning.

**Most Yancy field trips were. **

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. **

"Isn't the Chiron?" Asked Athena, "But he only goes out when it's a possible child of one of the Big Three." In her mind she started to put two and two together, and began to glare at Poseidon.

Nobody could be bothered to answer her, while the three gods in question looked slightly guilty.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. **

"Now that does sound like Chiron," Zeus muttered to himself, just loud enough for everyone to catch what he was saying.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. **

"Wow a class that doesn't put him to sleep? That teacher, must be amazing." Said Leo, who still hadn't worked out that it was Chiron, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Piper.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. **

"He's going to jinks it." Thalia said.

"He always does," confirmed Annabeth.

**Boy, was I wrong. **

"What did I say?"

"Nobody doubted you cuz." Said Nico, sounding slightly bored as he did.

Apollo spoke up, "so are you saying that this kid has bad luck?"

"He has the worse luck I have ever seen." Answer Annabeth, once again sounding sad.

The demigods –minus Jason, Piper, and Leo- nodded in agreement to this, and this time Athena caught Poseidon's wince.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Of course." Shrugs the Stoll twins, earning them a grin from their father.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea. **

"Yeah we do you're another waist of space troublemaker, just like the rest of the demigods." Came the sly response from Hera.

"Lady Hera, perhaps you should give the boy a chance?" Hestia said from her fire.

Hera began to grumble under her breath, while not wanting to upset the kindest of the gods, while Poseidon sent her a small smile, which she missed.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"We'd need a miracle for that to happen." Said Nico, causing most of the demigods to once again burst into laughter.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. **

"EEEEWWWW!" Complained most of the female gods, and a few demigods too.

"Who in their right mind would eat that?" Asked Hermes, with his half brother nodding along in agreement.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Hum" Dionysus hummed before voicing his thoughts, "That sounds like that satyr, what's his name again... George Underworld, or something like that."

"His name is Grover Underwood, and dad, before you say anything against him, he's my friend, and a great satyr, and it isn't his fault at all what happened to me. You were the one to turn me into a tree, I would have happily died that day, and he was only doing what I asked him, and he saved two other demigods while he was at it. So don't you even think about saying one bad thing about him."

Jason stared at his sister in awe, while their father was doing an amazing impression of a fish. Annabeth, who was sat closest to Thalia could feel the electricity around her.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

"Boys, you need to give that satyr lessons, so that he doesn't blow his cover." Ordered Hermes.

"Yes dad," coursed his two boys.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair,**

"EEEWWW!" Complained the same people as beforehand.

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **

"Darn," moaned, Nico, Leo, the Stolls, Hermes and Apollo, causing everyone else to laugh.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. **

"Do it," encouraged the war god, "This book needs more excitement."

Clarise nodded in agreement with her father's words, whereas Annabeth just rolled her eyes before reading on.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." **

"So I," said Leo, earning a few weird looks from people around the room, "unless I'm wearing it," he finished, causing a few of the looks to go away.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. "That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. **

"Silly satyr," grumbles Ares.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens." **

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. **

Poseidon outwardly winced at this, and now more gods became suspicious. Jason on the other hand, was beginning to feel slightly jealous that his father didn't care for him as much as Percy's seamed to, and he wasn't the only one who was feeling like that.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. **

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. **

"Oh it's been around a lot longer than that seaweed brain." Annabeth said interrupting herself.

Athena started to wonder how close her daughter was with Percy, but they brushed it aside, she didn't mind who her daughter dated, as long as it wasn't one of the see gods children, even though most of the evidence was screaming that he was Poseidon's brat.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. **

"Isn't that the name that Alecto is going by now my love," Asked a curious Persephone.

Hades pretended not to hear her, while glares and grins were being sent his way, including one particularly strong glare from Annabeth.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown. **

"Yeah nervous breakdown for sure, they probably took one look at her and ran off screaming." Muttered Thalia.

A grin spread across Connors faces as he spoke, "What like the kind of breakdown than Poseidon is currently experiencing?"

At this everyone turned to look at a very pale Poseidon, Annabeth noticed their looks and quickly read on before anyone could start asking any questions.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month. **

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right." **

"He really needs lying lessons," Groaned Hermes.

"On it dad." Sang Connor and Travis.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. **

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?" **

**It came out louder than I meant it to. The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. **

"Now he's going to be in trouble," muttered Will, almost to himself.

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" **

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir." **

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" **

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" **

A shudder was passed around the elder five gods.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..." **

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-" **

"GOD?!" Bellowed Zeus.

"I'm sure he shall be corrected my lord," Annabeth said, once again standing up for her boyfriend.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. **

"She told you so." Muttered Katie, causing the demigods to laugh.

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-" **

"Why did he have to be asked about that?" Asked Demeter.

The five eldest, including Demeter winced at the memory, while Zeus was silently counting his lucky stars that he wasn't eaten too.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me. **

"I can imagine, well I can't but it must be bad." Aphrodite rambled

**"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won." **

"I think only Percy could sum up a giant war, that could have brought around the end of the world, in a few simple words." Said Will.

"I know someone who would even go as far to say that he is special." Grinned Katie.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, with a small smile dancing upon her lips, before she carried on reading.

**Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'" **

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?" **

"Bustered." Said Will grinning.

**"Busted," Grover muttered. **

"Oh no," moaned Nico.

"What?" Will asked confused.

Nico answered him with an evil grin plastered on his face, "You think like a goat."

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. **

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. **

"Well he is half horse," Hephaestus spoke up for the first time.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir." **

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. **

"Why does he have to bring that up, again?" Hera asked the room.

Zeus grinned "It couldn't have been that bad."

"You wouldn't know little brother since you apparently look so much like a rock" Hades said.

Poseidon added to it, with a quite dark smile on his face, "and you're about as smart as one too."

Annabeth decided that now would be a good time to read on, before it became a full out argument.

**The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, **

"Not somewhere you would like to be," Hades commented rather randomly.

Annabeth snorted and muttered sarcastically to Thalia, "I could imagine," causing her to laugh.

**the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch.**

"That's a happy note?" Asked Katie, eyebrow raised.

**Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. **

"Males!" Artemis spat.

Her twin pouted, "You know you love us really sis."

"Don't call me sis." The maidan goddess responded, with a threatening undertone.

"I'm not related to him," Will said embarrassed.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." **

**I knew that was coming. I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" **

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything. **

"Well almost everything I think." Athena commented.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me. **

**"About the Titans?" **

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it." **

**"Oh." **

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson." **

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard. **

"Of course he does Percy he know who you are, and has an idea of what you're going to be up against in the future, he only want you to be prepared for when it comes, and for you to know what he's up against." Annabeth told the book.

"He doesn't need to push him quite so hard does he? I mean he doesn't know anything about this yet, he believes that we are all myths, and if his future is as bad as you are all hinting, I think it would be better for him if he didn't know who he was, and to hide away from it."

"I wish he could Lord Poseidon, but without Percy… Well lets just say things would be bad." Thalia said.

"Wow," commented Travis sarcastically, "I think that that is the biggest understatement of the year."

At this the god of the sea winced, and this time nobody missed it.

"He's your child isn't he brother?" Asked Hestia.

Poseidon gave a small nod in response.

"Typical!" Exclaimed Hades, "I'm the only one to keep our promise."

"How could you Poseidon?" Asked Zeus, lightning striking the earth, showing his anger.

"It's not like you can talk Zeus. As Hades rightly said, he was the only one who kept the oath, you yourself broke it too, twice, and the proof is sat over there," Poseidon gestured to Thalia, and Jason, "so you have no right to lecture me on braking it."

"Just like you didn't lecture me?"

"Actually," Hermes butted in, "if you can remember, Uncle Poseidon never did bring you up on it, he was the only one who didn't."

Zeus could sense the conversation was over, as he slouched in his throne, grumbling about being teamed up on.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. **

"That sound like fun," stated Apollo, as he and his half brother grinned at the thought.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder **

"The goddling shouldn't hate that, after all they prove that he is a demigod, but typical males, always complaining," grumbles Artemis.

"What just like you are?" Asked Apollo innocently, earning him a punch in the nose by his twin.

**and I had never made above a C- in my life. **

Athena gasped in shock, and started mumbling to herself about idiotic sea brats, until she had a nice shower straight from the Atlantic.

**No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. **

"Owch," winced Leo, "poor Percy."

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was" muttered Rachel.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch. **

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. **

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. **

Athena looked the Poseidon and Zeus and thought, _what could have happened to have time fighting like this?_ And then she thought back to the title of the book, and her eyes widened slightly.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. **

"Of course," Said Connor, Travis and Will

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. **

"Unlikely, I mean it's easy to see you're a loser freak who can't make it anywhere else," Clarise said, much to the amusement of her father, but also earning her death glares from Annabeth and Poseidon.

**"Detention?" Grover asked. **

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius." **

Most of the room burst out laughing at this.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?" **

The laughter continued.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me. **

"Mothers boy" said the war god.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table. **

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap. **

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos. **

"Eeewwww," said Aphrodite, "she could really do with a makeover."

"No," argued Demeter, "what she needs, is more cereal."

**I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**

"That doesn't work," said Nico.

"At least he's better at controlling that anger now," Annabeth added.

**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. **

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!" **

"Wow Uncle P, your kid is good," Apollo said, "I mean he doesn't know anything about you, or us for that matter, and he can already use his powers when he gets angry? Wow."

"Why does he get all of the cool powers?" Grumbled Nico.

"What are you talking about," asked Rachel, "You can raise an army of the dead, travel through shadows and talk to the dead. And Jason and Thalia can fly and can control lightning," she paused for a moment, "to be honest, I think it's everyone else who should be jealous of you, of all of you, you can all do amazing things, while all I can do is get possessed."

"Don't talk about it like that Rach," said Katie to comfort her, "you know you have great powers too, we all have cool powers, just not all of them are useful, unlike yours."

Rachel smile at the daughter of Demeter in thanks.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. **

"He's in trouble," sang Apollo.

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-" **

**"-the water-" **

**"-like it grabbed her-" I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. **

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-" **

Everyone notice how a certain god of the seas began to panic for his sons well being.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." **

Hermes groaned, "Never, I repeat never guess your punishment."

"Dad?" Asked Travis.

"You do know you're talking to a book right?" Added Connor.

"And that he's not really here?" Travis finished.

**That wasn't the right thing to say. **

"It's funny how whatever he says," said Thalia, "never does turn out to be the right thing to say."

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said. **

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her." **

"Now he has eaten enough cereal" said Demeter, causing the rest of the council, and guest to complain.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. **

"He's your friend Percy," said Annabeth, "and your protector, of course he would stick up for you, just as you would stick up and try and protect him, and everyone else for that matter.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. **

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said. **

**"But-" **

**"You-will-stay-here." **

**Grover looked at me desperately. "It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying." **

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now." **

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. **

"I am going to kill her!" Poseidon said, quoting his son's earlier words, anger flashing through his eyes, causing ever Ares to try and hid in his throne.

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. **

**How'd she get there so fast? **

"If she even lays a finger on my son," Poseidon said, his voice deathly calm, "I will make you wish that you were dead my dear brother."

Understandably Hades was wishing he was elsewhere right now, while the demigods felt their jealousy return.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. **

"This isn't seaweed brain." Annabeth said, becoming slightly scared about her boyfriends well being.

**I wasn't so sure. **

**I went after Mrs. Dodds. **

"NO! Just run." Said Leo.

"Do you really just tell Percy to run?" Asked Nico.

Leo nodded.

"Gods your really haven't met him, he wouldn't run from a fight, especially if it met helping someone else." Nico said, causing Poseidon to worry more.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. **

"There is no way that Chiron would miss that." Athena said.

"What is he playing at?" Poseidon asked no one in particular, "Percy needs help."

"Uncle P, think for a second, Percy hasn't even met any of the demigods yet, and yet they know him? And we're only on the first chapter, he's going to live." Said Hermes, sounding smart for once.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. **

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. **

**But apparently that wasn't the plan. **

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. **

**Except for us, the gallery was empty. **

Poseidon swore colourfully in Ancient Greek.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. **

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it... **

"Finally some action," said Ares, who was ignored by everyone else in the room, except his daughter.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said. **

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am." **

"Wow Kelp for brains is being polite?" Thalia asked herself, "He's never polite, epically to gods and monsters."

"He is when he knows that he needs to be." Said Annabeth, once again sticking up for her boyfriend, while wondering when she would get to see him again.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" **

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. **

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. **

"That's what you think," Nico said trying to sound mysterious, while in face scaring most of the room.

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am." **

**Thunder shook the building.**

Zeus thought to himself, _what has happened to make me so mad at this demigod, other than the fact that he's Poseidon's child? _

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain." **

"Confess what?" Piper asked the room, receiving no reply, as most didn't know what she was talking about either.

**I didn't know what she was talking about. **

"Don't worry Perce, you're not the only one," Connor told the book.

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. **

"I doute that," Hera said.

"Poseidon," Athena said, "your child is an idiot."

**"Well?" she demanded. **

**"Ma'am, I don't..." **

**"Your time is up," she hissed. **

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons. **

**Then things got even stranger. Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. **

"Why is he holding a pen? What good is a pen?" Asked Apollo.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. **

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me. **

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. **

"Wow," said Leo, "that is even cooler than your coin Jase."

Jason just rolled his eyes.

"Anaklusmos" Poseidon said fondly.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. **

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. **

"Wuss" said Ares, causing him once again to be soaked.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!" **

And she flew straight at me.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. **

"How in Hades is it natural for a 12 year old to swing the sword?" Piper asked.

"It's Percy," Connor said like it explained everything.

Travis decided to expand on that, "He's not exactly normal."

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! **

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. I was alone. **

"Wow." Thalia said in shock, "He actually killed her on his first time."

"Uncle P, I'm surprised that you haven't killed Hades yet." Said Hermes.

Poseidon, looked from the book, to Hades, "Well she never did harm him."

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. **

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. **

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something. **

"Yeah sure," said Nico, "really you're just going crazy."

The gods and demigods laughed.

**Had I imagined the whole thing? **

"Nope." Said Apollo, popping the p.

**I went back outside. **

**It had started to rain. **

"Thank you so much for that life altering piece of information." Dionysus said sarcastically, shocking everyone, because they all thought he was asleep.

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt." **

"Who?" Asked Poseidon.

**I said, "Who?" **

Everyone laughed at how alike father and son were.

**"Our teacher. Duh!" **

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. **

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away. **

"Oh the beauty of the mist." Said Hephaestus.

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was. **

**He said, "Who?" **

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. **

"Boys?" Asked Hermes.

"We're on it dad," answered his twins together.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." **

**Thunder boomed overhead. **

"Ooohhh Lord Zeus is angry," sang Apollo.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. **

**I went over to him. **

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson." **

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. **

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" **

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?" **

A smile began to work its way onto Hermes' face.

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

The room erupted in laughter, so loud all of Olympus could probably hear it.

Hermes pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "Now he can lie."

Once the laughter has settled down, the daughter of Athena looked up and spoke to the room, "that is the end of the chapter. Who would like to read next?"

"I would." Said Poseidon, getting up and walking across to Annabeth, who passed him the book.

Once he was sat back down on this throne, he opened to the correct page before he began to read.

**Please review**

**~Indradera**


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Percy Jackson series, but then again you probably already know that **

**Thank you so much for all the views and reviews on the last chapter.**

**redlox2: yes they are all from after MoA, but I haven't fully read it yet, so they can only remember certain things from it.**

**Please can you check out Elandil's version of this too, if you wish to :)**

Poseidon looked down at the book in his hands, reading the chapter title to himself, before he said it aloud, letting out a groan, causing all in the room to look at him, waiting for him to explain, just to listen to him mumble to himself, "Why did I have to read this chapter."

"What does it say Lord Poseidon," asked the daughter of Athena, so I decided to read it out,

**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

"That doesn't sound so bad," Hermes commented sounding confused.

Apollo decided to expand on what Hermes said, saying "Yeah Uncle P what's the matter, what does it mean?"

Before he got to answer , the almighty bird brain jumped in, and not that he would admit it, but right now he was slightly pleased that she did, well that is until she started talking.

"It means that fish breath has just learnt what a brain is, and is using it for the first time for the many millennia of his life. But anyway, however much I hate to say this, but we both have the same idea at the moment."

"And that is?" Asked Zeus impatiently.

"Well it means that we both think that the three old women that he is talking about, may possibly be the fates?" At the end she turned to her daughter and her friends, looking for conformation on her thoughts.

"I'm sorry to say mother, but Percy hasn't told me anything about this, but I do really hope that you are wrong."

"Well we are reading the boys life, and his thoughts, so please Poseidon, if you start to read you will find out if you are correct, and the faster you read it the faster the danger passes, and really if you think about it, he's not going to die there, none of these demigods with us now would know him if he did die here, and we still have so much of the book left to read." Said Hephaestus from his throne, and then without another word on the subject, and before anyone could even think about saying something the sea god began to read again.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, **

"Wow" stated Katie.

"What?" Poseidon asked, sounding slightly annoyed about being interrupted so soon.

"I think," she paused momentary to string her thoughts together, "that Percy might just be the king of understatements."

The demigods who had met said boy burst out in fits of laughter at how right she was, while a few of the more immature gods *cough* Apollo *cough* Hermes also joined in with the laughter. It was several minutes before the room calmed down enough for Poseidon to carry on reading.

**but usually they were over quickly. This twenty- four/seven hallucina-tion was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Actually," started Travis.

"That sounds like a good prank." added Connor, before they both looked at each other and yelled out, "Thanks Perce!"

Annabeth went over to hit them both on the head, at the same time, while Hermes pretended to be wiping a tear from his eye saying, "I'm so proud, you've been raised well boys."

The Stolls turned from glaring at Annabeth to grin at their father.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho. **

"Percy? Psycho? I don't see it." Nico said.

"Yeah," said Thalia, "Lucky the Psycho gean stays on your's and your dad's side of the family."

Most of the room started laughing, including Poseidon, while Nico and Hades pretended to be upset.

**It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

"Almost?" Asked Athena, eyebrow raised.

**Almost. **

The whole of the room erupted in laughter, while Athena was left to think why she had chosen the moment to open her big mouth.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"He does really need to learn how to lie," Hermes said, unhappy at the fact that someone couldn't lie.

"Know that satyr, he's going to end up messing this mission too. Waist of space goat." Zeus said grumbling.

Thalia shot to her feat, her eyes shining with electristy, as she shot daggers at her father, "DAD! Leave him alone. How many time do you want me to tell you that it was my fault, and I wouldn't have let my friend die for me? And have you ever thought that I might have wanted to die? Not that I did, but I could have!"

Once again, her little brother was amazed at her guts to stand up to the lord of the gods, and her ability to shut him up.

"Remind me never to make her mad." Will whispered, almost silently to the Stolls.

"Deal." They said just as quietly back.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. **

"Once again…" Hermes started just to be cut off.

"We get it, now be quite!" Snapped Hera.

**But I knew he was lying. **

"So would anyone." Hephaestus said, thinking for a moment before adding, "even my wife or her annoying boyfriend."

Luckily Poseidon speedily read on before another argument could begin**.**

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. **

"Well no." Ares said, angry that he couldn't start a fight with the blacksmith.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. **

Most of the demigods failed to hide their shudders, as they thought about all their stupid demigod dreams, and surprisingly, some of the gods showed their discomfort too.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. **

"Jeez," Apollo spoke up, "Why are you so angry Zeus?"

Needless to say, he got no answer, as no one -but the demigods, minus the trio- knew the answer.

**One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. **

"And why are you so angry at him?" Athena asked.

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

Poseidon began to worry about the safety of his son, trying to hid his fear, but to all of the onlookers, it shone brightly on his face, but sensing that he didn't want anyone to notice, they stayed quite for him to continue reading.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. **

Faces started to travel from Zeus to Poseidon and back again, eyes bright with curiosity, as Zeus motioned for Poseidon to continue.

_What has us so angry at each other this time?_ Zeus thought to himself, as he absentmindedly stroked his bolt.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. **

Athena gasped.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. **

A small chuckle could be heard from the war god's throne.

**I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. **

"At least he's out of class," Leo said to try and lightly the dark mood that had fell around the room, as everyone, well everyone but most of the demigods tried to work out what had caused the conflict between sea and sky.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. **

Annabeth giggled before speaking, "Trust Percy to use an insult when he doesn't even know what it means."

"So then know it all," said Clarise, "you gona tell us what it means?"

"Old drunk."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. **

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine. **

Hera grumbled something about a bad attitude, while Demeter could be heard talking under her breath about cereal.

**I was homesick. **

"Mothers boy." Said Ares, causing him to get yet another freezing saltwater shower.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, **

"Wow he's already so connected to his dad," muttered Rachel.

Annabeth nodded along.

**the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. **

"He won't be there stupid." Dionysus said, with a lazy tone in his voice.

"He doesn't know that." Poseidon said, sticking up for his son.

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. **

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. **

"WHAT?" Athena exploded.

No one answered her, but many did role their eyes.

"Stupid males," Artemis said.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. **

"Good." Zeus said bluntly.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

Athena looked like she would kill him at that moment.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. **

"I totally know where he's coming from," said Leo.

"Then again flame head, you wouldn't have even bothered trying to study in the first place."

"Oh you know me so well beauty queen."

Jason felt a slight bit of jealousy hit him, as he moved his hand to gently hold Piper's, while Hephaestus' eyes widened at the nickname his son was given, as he thought about his last child with the power over fire, and wondered if Leo was the same.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **

A few chuckled.

**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. **

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. **

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. **

Ares laughed at Percy.

"Do you have something you wish to say Ares?" Asked Poseidon, who at this moment looked absolutely terrifying.

"Urmmm no Poseidon. Sorry sir."

"Good!"

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. **

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir." **

"Don't worry goat boy," said Connor

"We all are," finished Travis.

**I froze. **

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. **

"It is pretty hard not to," Rachel said agreeing, as Piped nodded along.

**I inched closer. **

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-" **

"Nawwww." Nico complained.

"What is it?" Asked Hades, a slitter of concern snuck into his question.

"He's going to give the whole surprise away."

Hades regretted ever asking, while everyone else was left to wonder if that kid had any sanity in him at all.

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more." **

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline- " **

"What deadline?" Athena asked the book, which made a handful of people begin to question her sanity, or lack of, as well.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can." **

**"Sir, he saw her... ." **

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that." "Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. **

"Poor Grover," Thalia whispered.

**"You know what that would mean." **

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive **

Once again the worry began to return to Poseidon.

**until next fall-" **

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. **

"NO!" Hermes said loudly.

"What?" Snapped Artemis.

"You should know sis, it's never a smart move to give away your position to the enemy." Apollo said, sounding smart for a few moments.

"Chiron isn't the enemy." Athena said.

**Mr. Brunner went silent. **

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. **

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

"What was he doing out of his wheelchair?" Athena asked.

"Someone is in a question asking mood today aren't they. You upset that there's so much you don't know?" Aphrodite asked.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. **

"Good," Hermes said.

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. **

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. **

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice." **

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..." **

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow." **

**"Don't remind me." **

"Poor Grover," Will, Travis and Connor said, quoting Thalia's word from before.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. **

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. **

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. **

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. **

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" **

**I didn't answer. **

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?" **

**"Just... tired." **

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, **

"That won't work." Hestia said softly, "He can read your emotions, he knows something is up."

No one in the room had the heart to tell her that they all knew that.

**and started getting ready for bed. **

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. **

"Not going to happen." Jason said.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. **

"It sounds kind of harsh when he puts it like that." Demeter said, surprising everyone that she wasn't talking about cereal for once.

**They thought I was in some kind of danger. **

"You probably are," Persephone said, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Especially if you had one of my husbands Furies after you."

Poseidon visibly winced, causing a lot of sympathetic looks to be sent his way.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, **

"Owch," complained most.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. **

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem. **

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best." **

"He's not going to take that in the right way." Thalia said.

"How do you mean?" Asked Hestia.

"Lets just say that Percy has a talent of looking down on himself at times, he'll always take something in the worse way possible." Annabeth answered.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. **

"Brother, when she dies, please, please make her pay." Poseidon said, a dark glint in his eyes.

"I'll see what I can do."

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir." **

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." **

**My eyes stung. **

"Wuss." And with that another shower was sent to the war god, seconded with a electric shock from Thalia, and death glares from most of the rest of the room.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out. **

"He doesn't mean it like that," Poseidon told the book version of his son, sounding slightly depressed.

**"Right," I said, trembling. **

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-" "Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me. **

"Oh Percy." Said the daughter of Athena, sounding as down as fish face's father.

**"Percy-" **

**But I was already gone. **

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. **

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies. **

"Don't let your Uncle hear you say that." Hermes joked, as he failed to lightly the gloomy auras around Poseidon and Annabeth.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. **

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall. **

"Too bad things didn't turn out like that, Perce." Rachel said softly, "It may have been better for you."

Luckily only the demigods heard the last part.

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool." **

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. **

"Poor boy." Persephone said.

Her mother nodded in agreement, "he defiantly doesn't need any cereal."

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. **

"Such a coincidence," Will said dramatically.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. **

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. **

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" **

"Well that's one way to scare the goat out of his pants." Hermes commented.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?" **

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. **

"NOO!" Exclaimed the Stoll twins, sounding very much like their dad, "Never admit it until you are forced to."

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?" **

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?" **

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..." **

"Not going to work," Sung Will making his dad smile.

**"Grover-" **

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..." **

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar." **

**His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer." **

**The card was in fancy script, **

"Why on Olympus do you use fancy script?" Asked Athena.

"It's fun to watch the struggle to read it," Dionysus answered.

"I expect that to be changed sometime in the future, or your time at that came will be doubled." Zeus threatened.

**which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like: **

**Grover Underwood **

**Keeper **

**Half-Blood Hill **

**Long Island, New York **

**(800) 009-0009 **

**"What's Half-" **

**"Don't say it aloud!" **

"Good advice, he probably won't listen to it though," Said Hera.

**he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." **

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. **

"Oh he's not rich." Dionysus said.

"You really are quite obtuse aren't you?" Apollo asked.

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." **

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me." **

**"Why would I need you?" **

"That's harsh, maybe he does need cereal after all."

"Shut up about the stupid cereal." Hades said, sounding annoyed.

"Stop stealing daughters then."

"Just drop it mother."

**It came out harsher than I meant it to. **

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you." **

**I stared at him. **

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me. **

"He's a good friend," said Hestia from the hearth.

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?" **

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. **

"EWWW!" Complained Aphrodite.

**The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. **

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. **

**We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. **

Poseidon's gulp was loud enough to be heard all the way across Olympus.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. **

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. **

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. **

Most of the demigods and the sea god all began to curse colourfully in a mix of English and Greak.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. **

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-" **

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?" **

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?" **

"Even I can tell that that is not the right time to be cracking jokes," Nico said, sounding as thought he did have some intelligence after all.

"Yeah," said Will, "not funny at all."

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

This time when the laughter started it seemed to be missing the houmor.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. "We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on." **

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." **

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. **

"JUST LISTEN FOR ONCE!" Annabeth yelled, causing everyone one to jump 10 feet.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

The room became so silent that you could easly hear a pin drop, and no one dared to breath. After a while, when Poseidon managed to pull in the panic, he began to read again.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla. **

"Once again not the right time Perce." Will said softly.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. **

"Good! Now get on!" Poseidon ordered his son.

**The passengers cheered. **

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" **

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. **

Mutters of no's could be heard from Annabeth

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

**"Grover?" **

**"Yeah?" **

**"What are you not telling me?" **

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?" **

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?" **

"No Percy," said Rachel.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw." **

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." **

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older. **

"He's smarter than he looks" Hera comented.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord." **

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. **

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time." **

**"What last time?" **

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth." **

Annabeth winced.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. **

"Good it should." Poseidon said.

**"What are you talking about?" **

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. **

"Thank the gods," the sea god breathed.

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. **

**No answer.**

"Okay then," said Poseidon, "Who wants to read next?"

"May I brother?"

"Of course Hestia," Poseidon said smiling fondly at his favourite and eldest sister.

Hestia smiled as she stood up and walked gracefully to Poseidon to get the book before opening it to read.

**Thank you for reading and please, please review?**

**I'll try and write two for you next week, you might have had two this week if it wasn't for the fact I was at camp, sorry.**

**I hope you enjoyed**

**Ingradera**


	4. Grover Unexpectly Loses His Pants

**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any part of Percy Jackson, or anything else here you may recognise, or else it wouldn't be on fan fiction, it would be published, or on fiction press.**

**Enjoy**

Once Hestia was sat back near her fire, she looked down at the book, reading the chapter name, and raising an eyebrow, before reading it allowed.

**GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS **

Some of the more immature of the group began to laugh, Apollo and Hermes even laughed so hard that they ended up falling off their thrones, while the more naïve just looked at them, their confusion easily noticeable.

"Well that escalated quickly," Leo managed to get out between laughter.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal. **

"Idiot!" Growled Athena.

Hermes looked at her blinking twice, "You care?"

"Of course not, I'm just, surprised at how stupid he is, even though he is Barnacle Breath's son."

"Sure." Hermes replied earning himself a death glare.

**I know, I know. It was rude. **

"Just a bit." Katie said.

"Wait a sec," Connor called out.

"You mean Percy can be mean to someone?" Asked Travis.

"To a friend as well." Will said, shaking his head disappointed.

"Excuse me?" Zeus asked, sounding confused.

The demigods look between each other for a few moments, before the Oracle decided to take it upon herself to answer, only to do so that it wouldn't give much away, "His fatal flaw."

Poseidon frowned, "His fatal flaw is that he can't be mean?"

This time no body decided to answer, letting Hestia read on instead.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, **

"I wonder why that was," Nico said sarcastically.

**muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?" **

Thalia and Annabeth winced remembering what had happened, causing Hades to shift unnoticeably in his throne.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, **

"Too much info bro," Will complained.

**so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, and then made a beeline for the restroom. **

"Watch him not wait," Annabeth said.

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. **

"Seaweed brain can't you just do the sane, the smart thing for once in your life."

Nobody missed Poseidon's wince, as he began to partake in his least favourite activity. Worrying about his son.

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver. **

**A word about my mother, before you meet her. **

"Her name is Sally Jackson." Thalia said.

"She's an amazing mother and person," added Annabeth.

"She has the worst, and yet the best luck, just like her son." Nico put in.

"And she is the best person in the world, a queen among mortals," Poseidon concluded lovingly.

"Wow you really did love, and still do love her don't you?" Aphrodite asked, getting a small, slightly embarrassed smile for the sea god.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. **

"You guys said almost the exact same things as he did," Apollo said laughing.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, **

Hestia stopped reading for a second to shoot a disapproving look in Zeus' direction, causing him to glance at Poseidon and mutter his apologies.

**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. **

"Males!" Spat Artemis.

Poseidon looked down, "She deserved better, so much better."

"She had you loving her, and even if she doesn't know it she still has your heart, but other than that yes she does deserve better, just you can't blame yourself for that brother," Hestia said.

"Urm Lord Poseidon," Athena's child spoke up, "I know that Sally's luck is quite bad at the moment, but I would just like to tell you that it does improve drastically."

"Thank you child."

**She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. **

"Fish brains chose a smart one?" Asked Athena shocked.

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. **

"And she's kind," Demeter added, "Must have gotten enough cereal." Turing to glare at her brother she continued, "Unlike some people, who enjoy stealing daughters."

"Mother, this argument has been going on for millennia, can't you just drop it, it's not like you've lost me or anything, you get to see me for half of the year, and plus I'm happy, and I love Hades, so please just back off."

Demeter looked down slightly ashamed that she had upset her daughter, while Katie looked at her elder half sister with awe.

**After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma. **

"Jeez Tyche must hate her." Said Hermes

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad. **

"AWWWW!" coowed the love goddess**.**

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

"FIRST YOU BREAK THE OWTH AND THEN YOU VISETED YOU CHILD!" Zeus exploded.

"Yes I do believe that is what it just said," confirmed Poseidon, completely unfazed by the lord of the sky's anger.

All of the demigods got a large pang of guilt that Percy was the only one to have his immortal parent come and visit, while the gods looked down guilty that Poseidon was the only one brave enough to go against his brother and visit his child, while they just stayed away like they were ordered to.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. **

"TELL US YOUR SECRETS!" Screamed Apollo and Hermes.

Poseidon raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?"

"How come she still loves you?" Asked Hermes.

"'Cause normally once we have a kid with someone, they hate us, or try to ignore our very existence, and yet this woman still loves you. How do you do it uncle P?"

"Well my nephews," Poseidon started, sounding scarily like a teacher, "I didn't have a fling with Sally, not just some one night stand. I fell in love, and I believe that she might have fallen in love with me too."

The gods and demigods were shocked by his honestly, and even thought the half-bloods knew how Poseidon loved his son, they were still surprised at how easily he admitted his love.

**She has no pictures. **

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. **

"Never mind illegal," grumbled Zeus.

**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. **

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea. **

"How in Hades did you manage to get someone so smart to fall for you?" Athena asked, not believing a word she had heard.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. **

"She shouldn't have to complain," Poseidon said looking down and a very interesting crack in the marble floor, missing the sympathetic looks his family was sending him

**But I knew I wasn't an easy kid. **

"Cue the king of understatements," Said Leo laughing.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, **

Annabeth's faced darkened at this, a reaction that didn't go unnoticed.

**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, and then showed his true colours as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. **

The room erupted with laughter.

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. **

"The kid can't even be mean at all can he?" Persephone asked, "He must have been raised well."

**The guy reeked like mouldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts. **

"Ewwwww!" complained most of the goddesses.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, **

Poseidon looked as though he would kill him without a second thought, and he probably would if rules allowed.

**the way he and I got along... well, when I came home is a good example. **

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet. **

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home." **

**"Where's my mom?" **

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?" **

"No welcome back? No welcome back? No how has your life been the last six months?" Artemis asked outraged.

Hestia began to laugh at her niece's outburst, and when some strange looks were sent in her direction she began to read.

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months? **

Once again laughter grasped the room, only Artemis wasn't laughing, as she was too busy pouting.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something. **

"He really does need a makeover, but I'm not so sure he deserves one." Said Aphrodite.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting pay checks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. **

"Whoop beer," cheered Dionysus, who hadn't listened to anything before hand, so he was shocked at the death glares sent towards him.

**Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out. **

"Wouldn't be the first time," mumbled Annabeth, not quite quiet enough no one would hear, meaning everyone in the room turned to her in surprise, as she looked down, not wanting to met anyone's eyes in case they saw the tears in hers.

"What did that waist of space, pathetic excuse for a mortal do to my son?" Poseidon asked, his voice deathly calm, while the oceans attacked the earth, causing the humans to believe an apocalypse was on its way.

Slowly Annabeth looked up, "Seeing as we are in the middle of a chapter right now, do you please mind until after it's done before I tell you."

"Fine!" Snapped Poseidon, "After this chapter we will take a break for dinner, and you can tell me then."

No one dared to argue with the lord of the seas at this point, so they all agreed, and Hestia continued to read.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him. **

**He raised a greasy eyebrow. **

Aphrodite shuddered in her throne, while Hephaestus gently patted her arm.

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else. **

"Wait a moment…" Athena said to herself before sinking into thought. A few second, or minutes later she came back Olympus, with a large smile upon her face, "You really did fall for a smart one Algae Brain." She complemented.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?" **

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here." **

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated. **

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony. **

"Disgusting!" Cried most of the Olympians.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose." **

"He will," Hermes confirmed, "Don't worry"

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!" **

"Like you could do any better, you maggot," Snapped Annabeth, making the sea god even more angry, as him mind was working overtime on what this male had done to his much loved son.

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer. **

"Please brother, have to worst punishment imaginable ready for him when he enters the underworld?" Asked Poseidon.

"Don't worry I shall make sure I am on the panel of judges for that."

"As will I," said Nico, "Nobody hurts my friend and gets away with it."

A small smile appeared on the love goddess' lips and her husband inched away, scare of what she was planning, while her boyfriend grinned along with her, even thought he had no idea why he was doing so.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home. **

"Go sarcasm," Leo said half heartedly, trying to ease the tension within the room.

"Nice try Flame Head." Jason muttered.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn. **

The room winced, as Piper spoke up, "It can't be that bad can it?"

No one had met the man so no one answered her question.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone-something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons. **

"He is quite observant isn't he?" Muttered Hephaestus to himself.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?" **

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted. **

"Mothers boy!" Coughed Ares, causing almost the whole of the room to turn and glare at him.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change colour in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

The room smiled, and Hera spoke allowed, "He will make a good hero."

Everyone just stared at her, doing almost perfect impersonations of a goldfish.

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" **

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, liquorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home. **

Apollo, Hermes, the Stolls, Will and Leo began to daydream at the thought of such bliss.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right? I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her. **

Once again warm smiles captured the room, and not ever Ares said anything bad, but that may have had something to do with the face that a huge bubble of icy water was hanging above his head, just waiting for him to speak.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?" **

Poseidon gritted his teeth.

**I gritted my teeth. **

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe. **

"Yes" Poseidon agreed, "She does deserve that and so much more, and yet she wouldn't accept. I just hope she finds a nice mortal, who can make her happy and can give her the world."

No one was expecting the amount of love that shone in his voice.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad. **

**Until that trip to the museum ... **

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?" **

"Tell her!" Demanded the boy's father.

**"No, Mom." **

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid. **

"It wouldn't, she knows more than you think, tell her and she will be able to help you, she'll keep you safe, she'll protect you."

"You told her?" Zeus asked, surprisingly calmly.

"No brother, she's clear-sighted." Was all Poseidon said in explanation, luckily that was all that he had to say.

**She pursued her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. **

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach." My eyes widened. "Montauk?" **

A happy smile made itself known on the sea god's lips, as he remembered all of his times on said beach.

**"Three nights-same cabin." **

**"When?" **

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed." **

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money. **

"Probably because he spends all of it!" Growled Rachel.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" **

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here. **

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip." **

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?" **

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go." **

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works." **

"Bribery," Hermes said nodding, "I like this one uncle P, good choice."

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?" **

"How could you even put a budget on clothes?" Exclaimed Aphrodite, before turning to cry into her boyfriend's shoulder, making him grin while her husband just glared at the ground.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said. **

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back." **

**"We'll be very careful." **

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game." **

"He didn't interrupt it, you were the one who decided to demand money off of him," Hera reminded the monster in the book.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week. **

As per usual the people in the room began to laugh again.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. **

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? **

"To protect you," Mother and daughter said as one, causing everyone to look at them.

"You'll find out," Stated Annabeth.

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now." **

"Go Perce!" Cheered the demigods.

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement. **

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided. **

**He went back to his game. "Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?" **

"Of course she wouldn't miss it," Annabeth smile to herself.

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. **

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. **

"You probably weren't," said Athena to everyone's surprise.

**She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip. **

**An hour later we were ready to leave. **

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend. **

Artemis gave the room a very colourful and violent lecture in Ancient Greek about that particular male.

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch." **

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me. **

A loud growl was heard from Poseidon's throne, causing everyone to slowly back away, as they favoured their lived too much, and were not suicidal in the slightest.

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

Goldfishes inhabited the spaces where everyone sat, as all mouths quickly opened and closed, trying to come up with some explanation, but the only one they could find was Apollo's comment of, "He's powerful."

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. **

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it. Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders **

Annabeth and her mother shuddered, as Hermes and his children began to plan pranks.

**in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. **

"Like that would fuss him," Thalia said.

**I loved the place. **

"As do I my son."

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad. **

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the colour of the sea. **

Poseidon started to relax in his throne, and a warm smile found it's home on his face, causing everyone else to smile as well.

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. **

"What's with the blue food?" Apollo asked.

**I guess I should explain the blue food. **

"Thank you," said Apollo grinning.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. **

"Those cakes are so nice," Nico said.

**She mixed blueberry smoothes. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Just yours is just a tiny but bigger that hers Kelp Head," said Thalia.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. **

As if waiting for that that exact line, the fire by Hestia grew slightly and became warmer and brighter.

**We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. **

Once again the lord of the sea looked towards the ground.

**I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them. **

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes." **

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud." **

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years. **

"I am proud of you Percy, how could I not be? I've only just began to learn about your life, and already I can see that you will make an amazing hero, and a great friend, but most importantly you are my son, so no matter what you do I will love you."

Travis leaned across to Connor and muttered so no one would hear, "You got that?"

"Of course," Replied his brother, putting the video camera back into his pocket.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?" **

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin." **

**"But... he knew me as a baby." **

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born." **

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile. **

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ... I felt angry at my father. **

Poseidon flinches, as an almost invisible tear made its way down his cheek, "I'm sorry Perseus, forgive me."

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe. **

Zeus shrank back into his throne as glares were thrown his way by the handful, all except Poseidon, who carried on looking at the ground.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?" **

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire. **

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something." **

**"Because you don't want me around?" **

"How could you say that Punk?" Clarise asked the book.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out. **

"Good," She growled.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away." **

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy. **

**"Because I'm not normal," I said. **

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe." **

"Well he's going to be confused," Zeus' daughter said.

**"Safe from what?" **

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget. During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head. **

"Why was there a Cyclops their?" Asked Jason.

"I asked him to keep an eye on my son for me."

**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands. **

"Just like Hercules," Zeus said slowly in amazement.

While across the room, Artemis, Thalia and Annabeth looked like they could kill.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move. **

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that. **

"Stupid Seaweed Brain!"

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it." **

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?" **

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp." **

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born- talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before? **

"Because she knows if she sends you she may not see you again, that you could die, or you could just chose not to come home for whatever reason, and she doesn't want to lose you Percy," Poseidon told his son in the book, while no one saw Will putting something into his pocket.

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good." **

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..." **

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry. **

**That night I had a vivid dream. **

Upon hearing this the demigods cursed loudly, as they all know about what Percy dreams were like.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, **

Zeus and Poseidon looked at each other.

**were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. **

All eyes widened, staring between the two gods.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder. **

Some looked at Hades, while a frown appeared on his face, and the demigods looked around nervously.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, **

"Okay I slightly take it back," Athena said, "He is quite smart."

"When he wants to be," Annabeth added under her breath.

**but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No! **

"I win!" Said Zeus sounding strangely cheerful, as Poseidon narrowed his eyes at him.

**I woke with a start. **

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane." **

"You guys need to calm down, I know you're upset your bolt has gone dad, but you're going to destroy Earth if you carry on like this and they you probably will never get it back." Apollo told his father, and to many people's surprise, he made sense, and it was a good idea.

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. **

"Unless uncle P is angry," sang Hermes, causing Apollo to raise an eyebrow before laughing, almost falling off his throne, his moment of sanity from before now forgotten.

**But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. **

"Yes it seems he has," said Rachel.

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end. **

Gulps could be heard from around the room.

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door. My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. **

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover. **

"How is that?" Leo asked.

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" **

**My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come. **

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?" **

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. **

"Just tell her Perseus!" Screamed Poseidon.

Thalia leaned across to Annabeth, and whispered, "If this is what he how is now, what's he going to be like later in his life, when he's almost dying every day."

"Honestly, I have no idea."

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?" **

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. **

"Naturally," Dionysus muttered bored from his throne

**I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on**

"Of course that's the first thing he notices," Nico said laughing.

**-and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ... **

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!" **

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, **

"About time," Muttered Poseidon.

**and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning. **

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!" Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. **

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves. **

"ENTER GOAT BOY!" Screamed the demigods.

"Who would like to read next?" Hestia asked.

"I wou…"

"Wait!" Poseidon interrupted, "First we eat, I still need to find out what that Gabe has done to my son."

"Okay then we shall go get dinner now, and then we can also listen to what Athena's daughter has to say," Zeus said, "Follow us." He ordered, standing up and leading the way from the throne room to the dining hall, telling some Nymphs to prepare some food as he went.

**A/N: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY EVERYONE! For those who don't know Tyche is the goddess of luck, whose Roman equivalent is Fortuna.**

**Thank you for all of the amazing reviews I've got, and thank you to all those who have read, favourite or followed, it really does make my day XD**

**Please review had tell me what you think, I hope you enjoyed**

**~Ingradera**


	5. Dinner With A Side Of Suprise

**A/N: A few chapters before I said that this was set after MoA, but I'm changing my mind here I'm afraid, it will be near the end of SoN, where Camp Half-Blood is putting the finishing touches to the Argo II, and where at Camp Jupiter they have just finished the fight. I shall be looking through what I have written previously to change anything that doesn't fit into this, any way onto the story.**

**Warnings: Talk of abuse.**

**Disclaimer: Would I be adding this in if I really owned anything? Nope, thus I own nothing :'(**

Once everyone had found somewhere to sit down, Poseidon turned to Annabeth, all of his earlier fury returning in force, and yet all of that hid in his eyes, which when looking at them, they would remind you of the most dangerous, deadly sea at its worse, most unpredictable time, his voice stayed scarily calm, "What did that maggot of a mortal do to my son?"

Fear engulfed the girl as she looked at the sea god, terrified, even if she knew that his anger wasn't directed at her, she still was scared of what would happened when he found out what had happened. _Calm yourself down Wise Girl, think about Percy, about all he has managed to achieve while fear and death was breathing down his neck._

"Urm… Well Lord Poseidon, let's just say that Percy has a few scars that didn't come from battling monsters."

Athena frowned, "And how would you know this?"

Her daughter's cheeks darkened when a warm blush spread across them, it was obvious that she wasn't going to respond to her mother's question, but even if she wanted to she didn't get the chance because Poseidon began questioning her again.

"What do you mean? Wait… No please don't tell me…" He paused to take a deep breath trying to calm himself, but the waves still violently attacked the shores of Earth, "Did Sally know?"

By this point many of the gods, goddesses and demigods were looking between the two, trying to put together what Poseidon already had.

"No, she didn't. Percy always hid it from her, because Gabe threatened him countless times that if he said anything things would get worse, and he would find that he had nowhere to live, and that he would also start abusing his mother too. So he stayed quite."

Everyone had now caught onto what was being said, and everyone's eyes widened in shock, especially the eyes of his closest friends, Hermes almost dropped the camera that he was holding, while his children where throwing him looks hoping that he was getting it all.

"You mean to tell me that that male," spat Artemis, "Abuse his step-son and threatened to do the same to his wife?"

"Even thought Percy didn't know it at the time, Gabe didn't just threaten Sally, he followed through on the threat, even thought Percy had done nothing wrong." Muttered Annabeth.

Silence engulfed the room as the words sunk in, and it stayed even after the food arrived, and people began to eat, each person trapped inside of their own thoughts, until Leo spoke up.

"How many books do you think there will be?" He asked trying to break through the uncomfortable void.

"Well, I think there may be around five until the first war, but I'm so sure about the book up until now. So more than five."

Apollo showed once again that he does have a brain in his head, because he picked up on the face that Leo was attempting to vanquish the despair and heartache that had fell across the majority of the room, and lent a hand in the efforts, by doing what he does best. Complaining, "Ahhh do we really have to read that much? Isn't there a move of something we can watch instead, it will be quicker and less work."

"Well Lord Apollo," said Thalia, "There may be a movie especially if these books are popular, but movies often change the most important parts to it can add more drama and excitement."

Upon hearing this the sun god began muttering under his breath about beautiful women always spoiling his fun, which naturally made Thalia blush, and most of the room laughed at the gods antics, even if that laughter was a bit hollow or forced for some.

"So urm Jason, what are you doing with the Greeks?" Jupiter asked his son, while the room looked at him slightly surprised at his change of form.

"I can't really tell you that father, you know what the note said, 'no spoilers', but the person to blame for it all is sat in this very room."

Eye's of the gods darted across the room as thought they would be able to work it out, while the demigods just smiled, all of them honest and true, with real happiness. By now everyone had finished eating, and they slowly made their way back to the throne room, all in their own conversations. Athena made her was across to Aphrodite, pulling her away from an angry Ares.

"What sort of feelings does my daughter feel towards Arnica Beard's brat?" She asked the goddess of love.

Aphrodite looked between mother and child, before a slightly insane grin spread across her face as she looked back at the goddess of wisdom, "Well now that would be telling wouldn't it? You're smart, figure it out, I'm sure everything will be reviled soon enough." And on that note she went skipping across to her husband, much to her boyfriend's dismay.

"Is it so bad if our children care for each other?" A voice said behind her, and as she turned around she saw the sea god stood there, sadness still etched across his face.

"Why would it be good?" She asked him.

"Well, if they both make the other happy then isn't it a good thing they have each other, I mean look at you daughter," She did as she was told, "She obviously missed Perseus, and yet even reading these books, which are a constant reminder that he isn't here, she still seem happy to get this one piece of closer. But I guess we can only make our choice on their relationship when we she them together. They both deserve happiness in their lives, but with them being demigods, that is often just a dream, something you wish to find and yet can never have without death pulling it away in the most violent of fashions."

Athena looked up towards her uncle, her mouth hanging open as she considered his words, "You know sometimes uncle I forget how smart you can be, and I am very afraid to say this, but I agree with you, just if he ever does anything to hurt Annabeth both of you will be due an all expenses paid trip to Tartarus with no return ticket."

The sea god let out a throaty chuckle at her words, which he cut off as they walked thought the open doors of the throne room, all eyes on them.

"Well then what took you two so long?" Teased Hermes.

The two in question just rolled their eyes before seating themselves.

"So then who us reading next?" Asked Athena changing the subject.

Apollo perked up, "Me, me, me, me, me!" He sung to the room.

Hestia just laughed as he went across to her to pick up the book, before dancing gracefully beck to his throne, singing the entire way, however just as he was about to read, there was a bright golden light in the middle of the room, causing Annabeth to jump up from her seat, and scream out, "PERCY!?"

Slowly the light began to fade, all the while illuminating the hope in Annabeth's eyes, which as soon as the light was gone left with it. In the middle of the room didn't stand a person, instead there as a sheet of paper. For many moments the room just stared at it, until Hera became bored of waiting for it to perform some amazing party trick, so she got up to receive it, reading it allowed to the room,

"A note out to thee

Some new visitors from Rome

A face sure to please."

Athena's daughter looked deep in thought, before muttering so the room could only hear if they really tried, "Visitors from Rome, that would be people form Camp Jupiter then, which is where Percy should be," She said guessed, "But a face to please, I think the only one we would be happy to see more than any other would be Percy."

The demigods all nodded in agreement, as they all wanted their best friend back, and those who hadn't met him yet were excited to meet the legend. Apollo looked back down to the book and started to read.

**A/N: Thank you for reading, and thank you so much for all the reviews and everyone who has followed or has favourite this, thank you a million :D**

**Percy and the others will be coming in soon, they're just a bit busy fighting right now, and I like **Lady Kid's **idea, do you mind if I do something like that?**

**I hope you enjoyed, and please review.**

**~Ingradera**


	6. My Mother Teaches Me Bull Fighting

**Disclaimer: I own nothing *cries***

**I'm so sorry that I didn't update on Sunday like I said, my laptop keeps crashing on me, and since I'm so smart, I forget to regularly save, meaning I keep losing everything and have to re write it. Sorry. However, for the next few weeks, I will have a bit of extra time on my hands, so I may update during the week more, as at the moment I seem to have trouble keeping my laptop off of my lap. Anyway, a huge thank you so much for everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and ****favourited.**

**O:O:O:O:O**

Apollo glanced down at the book in his hands, before reading the title, his eyes locked with Poseidon's showing his fear to the room.

**MY MOTHER TEACHES ME BULLFIGHTING**

Poseidon paled once more, but to everyone's surprise he stayed quiet, remembering Hephaestus' earlier words about the chapter going faster, but he did notice Athena's child sitting quite stiff repeatedly mouthing a mantra to herself, which when he looked into her mind saw her thinking, he'll be fine, he gets there, there's no permanent damage, he lives, he's faced worse than one stupid bull. Upon hearing this more of his colour gained by many a days on the shore, vanished faster than Nico could jump into a shadow, while his eldest sister to send sympathetic glances his way.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind-shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas. **

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked Nico scared for his almost mom's safety, and sanity.

"Yes, but this is Sally, she'll do anything to protect Percy," her volume drastically lowered, so the demigods closest to her had to strain their ears to hear her, "As she dose later in this chapter…"

If it was possible, the sea lord paled further, as he had stayed within the girls head, to hear anything else that she thought or said, because in his observation, she was the one who knew his son the best out of everyone there, while Aphrodite easily heard the worry in the heir of the Underworld's voice, and began putting together an elaborate plan for when the sea prince returned.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, **

"For the love of gods, calm down Zeus, you're going to kill them!" Exploded Poseidon, pointing his triton in his brother's general direction, causing him to visibly shrink into his throne, much to the amusement at fear to the rest of their family.

However the love goddess seemed to be oblivious to this, as she only picked out the smallest, lest important part of the sentence, and began to read deeper into it, "Them?" She asked innocently.

"Not. Now." The sea god replied, while a small blush tinted his cheeks, returning some of their former colour.

**I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, **

"It must be the magic mushrooms again," Hermes said, in attempt to cheer up the room, and it world, as all but Poseidon and Annabeth laughed, while the two that were named looked as though they were fighting against a panic attack, even though they both knew that he would be okay.

**or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. **

"Percy must be the only person in the whole known universe, who would describe a satyr's legs like that," Will said laughing, while Leo and Nice looked down, slightly embarrasses, glad that no one noticed.

"Well it's Percy, what do you expect?" Asked wisdom's daughter, "He always seems to find something totally random to say, more so in life and death situations."

Surprisingly, the sea god managed to pale more, he knew the life of a demigod was dangerous, epically if that child was one of the big three, but he feared for the life of his son none the less, causing most of the other demigods to be jealous, even thought the majority were used to seeing the sea god's emotion towards his favourite child.

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo**

"Oh G-Man would love to hear that," Connor said, causing most the less intelligent Olympians to wonder momentarily who they were talking about.

**- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal. **

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?" **

"Yes you're running, or driving for your lives, and that's all you can think to say? No even 'hey guys, who's after us?'" Apollo asked sarcastically, with a grin spread across his face.

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rear-view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. **

"Last time I checked, monsters didn't drive cars, or at least don't most of the time," Athena said, thankful for the chance to insult the boy, not noticing the glare that her daughter was sending her, however the rest of the room did, and they were busy trying to contain their laughter.

**"Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." **

"STALKER!" Screamed the Stoll brothers.

"Well that kinda is the job of a satyr isn't it?" Katie asked

Will put on a face voice that would normally be heard on a voiceover, "Parents, beware of strange people hanging around your children, they are there to kidnap them, and take them off to some mythical camp, so that they can be with others who are like them. A big signs of if one of these people are after your child would be, if you had that child with an immortal Greek god, another may be said child making a new friend, who is either a cripple, or had goat legs, and always wears a hat to hid his horns. Don't say we didn't warn you!"

By the time he had finished, a large amount of the room were laughing so hard that they had fell from their chairs to the floor, and were currently rolling around with tears of laugher in their eyes.

**"Watching me?" **

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend." **

"Isn't he sweet? He must have had enough cereal when he was growing up," Demeter said.

"Enough tin cans don't you mean," Nico muttered sarcastically.

**"Urn ... what are you, exactly?" **

"The boogie man!"

"A dragon!"

"Santa!"

"Jack Frost!"

"A teddy!"

"Insane?"

Many gods and demigods shouted out their own opinion, but a stopped when Zeus voiced his thoughts.

"A waste of space!"

Faster than light, lightning electrocuted the lightning god, while his daughter look murderous.

**"That doesn't matter right now." **

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-" **

"Bad idea," Dionysus said lazily from his seat, diet Pepsi half way to his lips.

"You care?" Clarise asked, shocked.

The wine god just shrugged in response.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" **

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat. **

"Ignorance is your new best friend, the world can be so much better with it there." Apollo said, sounding strangely wise once again. Until Thalia spoke up.

"'Ignorance is your new best friend'. Isn't that part of the lyrics for Ignorance by Paramore?" She asked, failing to look innocent.

"Shut up bolt face."

Yet again the room started laughing, but this time it was at the childish, immature attitude of one of their own.

**"Goat!" he cried. **

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down." **

"I thought he just said that it didn't matter?" Piper asked.

**"You just said it didn't matter." **

Piper's eyes widened in fear before she moved closer to Jason, holding on to him for dear life, muttering, "There has to be a cure, there just has to be."

"I'm sure it's not that bad Pips," he boyfriend said to try and comfort her.

"You're right," Travis started.

"It's worse." Concluded Connor

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!" **

"Sounds fun," Hades said, "Then you can come a visit me, your dear uncle, because without Persephone, things get awfully boring down in the Underworld."

Since Poseidon was still listening into Annabeth's thoughts, he heard her think, _don't worry he'll be there soon enough_, and his worry, which had almost vanished during all of the joking, hit again with a vengeance.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?" **

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

"Unfortunately, all the monsters are really young Perseus,I have a feeling that you're going to be meeting quite a few of them," Poseidon said, bowing his head to the ground.

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" **

"That's all he thinks about?" Artemis asked, "Men!"

**"Of course." **

**"Then why-" **

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. **

"It kind of is, but only when you learn anything, or even when you've learn the basics," said Nico, and nobody saw the devilish glint in the love goddess eyes.

**"We put Mist **

"Because he's going to know what the Mist is," Hephaestus said.

**over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One **

"Why do you call them that?" Leo asked, "they are the opposite kindly."

The room just shrugged in response, until Hera spoke up, "Names hold power."

**was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

"Dun, dun, dunnn," Sang Apollo

**"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?" **

"He's just confusing him, poor dear," Hestia said from her position poking fire.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our **

**trail.**

Poseidon swore loudly in Ancient Greek, causing the Stolls to jot it down in one of their many notebooks, before looking up at the sea god, and thanking him, because they hadn't heard that one before.

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety." **

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?" **

"Pitch," said Nico seriously, showing that he was far too much obsessed with 'Rise Of The Guardians'.

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions." **

The room gulped, while said god tried to hid within his throne.

"At least I had some practice before he sent them after me, and I had good friends with me to help, he knows nothing, and no offence to Grover, but he's not the best of fighters, and Sally can't do that much, she's mortal, no offence Rachel," Thalia said, fear showing, as she thought about her eldest living cousin.

**"Grover!" **

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?" **

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird. **

"You sure about that seaweed brain?"

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. **

"Cue confused Percy."

**"Where are we going?" I asked. **

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you." **

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

"Don't make this any harder that it already is on your mother, please Perseus, she's done the best she could to protect you, better than I ever thought she would," The sea kind scolded, though his love and awe were clearly noticeable in his words.

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn." **

"It would be okay, if only they were normal old ladies, and not the Fates," Hephaestus said

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to... when someone's about to die." **

"He's going to pick up on that," Annabeth said.

Jason looked confused, before asking, "Pick up on what?"

Many also seemed to be silently asking this as well, as they hadn't noticed Grover's tiny slip up, but Athena's daughter just motioned for Apollo to continue reading.

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'" **

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'" **

"Oh I get it now." Leo exclaimed, and Thalia face palmed.

**"You meant 'you.' As in me." **

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you." **

"Boys," exclaimed Artemis, "Can't they understand there are more important things at that particular moment in time, that conversation could easily wait!"

"Not if they die it can't." Apollo said.

"More important things?" Hermes asked, "Like food?"

"You've just eat," Complained Hera.

The demigods just watched the display in silence, taking in the fact that these being that were countless years old, could on occasion act like a family. Yes a dysfunctional family, but a family none the less.

**"Boys!" my mom said. **

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

"It's getting closer." Moaned Poseidon, "Get out of there!"

**"What was that?" I asked. **

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please." **

Silently Poseidon added his pleas to that of his old lover's.

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me. **

"That only just hits home now?" Jason asked surprised.

"He really didn't have that much time before, and then everything pretty much returned to normal, so he thought he was imagining it, or at least he hoped he was." Annabeth said, sticking up for her boyfriend.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded. **

"Finally some sort of actions!" Exclaimed the war god, while the rest of the room just seemed to freeze in shock at the sudden turn of events.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. **

In harmony the room flinched as they tried to imagine what that would feel like.

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow." **

"Is that honestly all that he can say at that moment in time?"

**"Percy!" my mom shouted. **

Poseidon smiled sadly, glad that he had chosen such a great woman, and thinking about what an amazing job she did raising their son.

**"I'm okay... ." **

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. **

"Well no!" Said the lord of the dead.

**The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. **

**Lightning. **

Zeus tried to teleport out of the room, but he found it imposable, and as he glanced towards he older brother, he saw his gaze darken, and the lord of the sky began to sweat bullets.

**That was the only explanation. **

Before anyone could blink, Poseidon was on top of his brother, who was now currently on the marble ground, fear fresh in his eyes, as he looked between the god, who has a knee on his chest, keeping him down, and the weapon at his throat.

"If anything happens to any of them, the person responsible is going to find themselves wishing they were dead, or in the deepest pit of Tartarus with our father once I'm done with them." He threatened, his voice perfectly calm, but yet held so much darkness at the same time, causing even Ares to flinch backwards into his chair.

**We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump.**

**"Grover!" **

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, **_**No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die! **_

_Maybe he isn't as bad as most males, he seems to care, even though he's just found out that his best friend isn't exactly who he thought he was, he still worries about him, _Artemis thought to herself, careful to keep all emotions off her face, but he brother, who knew her so well, suddenly developed a huge grin, as he easily guessed at what his dear older sister was thinking about.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope. **

Even someone listening from outside of the room would have easily heard the laugher, which was failed to be contained by the large oak doors, even if that laugher was only in place to try and ease a slight amount of fear, that they majority of the gods would deny that they felt.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. **

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. **

"They aren't his hands seaweed brain," Annabeth said into her hand, which were currently covering her face, and Poseidon, who caught on quicker than normal, realised who it was, and copied the young demigod.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is-" **

Athena took everything into account and muttered under her breath, "Pasiphae's son." Unfortunately, everyone else around her overheard, and paled, those who didn't know what happened, hoping that she was wrong, while those who did know, wished also that she was mistaken.

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car." **

"Listen to your mother," pleaded the sea god.

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. **

"But be careful. Please?" He added, while almost the entirety of the room shot sympathetic glances, which h e was too worried to notice.

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?" **

"He won't just go and leave you there, you should know that right?" Annabeth asked the book, her voice unsure.

**"What?" **

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill. **

"Introducing Thalia Marie Grace." Nico said mockingly, earning him a half powered death glare, and an elbow to his ribs.

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." **

**"Mom, you're coming too." **

"Of course he just has to play the hero." Thalia said, running a hand through her hair, "Typical Percy, he always has to help everybody else."

Unknown to everyone but her brother, the goddess of the hurt raised an eyebrow to this, making a mental note to store any more information like this about the demigod, and then try to find out if he really is as good as everybody says.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover." **

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. **

This time nobody dared to laugh, scared for their friends life, and also afraid for the god of the Sky, and the god of the Underworld, for what Poseidon would do to them.

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. **

"Come on Percy, finger it out." Rachel complained.

**There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ... **

**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." **

"He's probably wishing this was a dream right now." Leo said, sympathizing slightly.

**"But..." **

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." **

**I got mad, **

"Oh gods," said Will, his eyes wide.

"What?" Poseidon asked, looking up from his little brother beneath him.

"You don't want to get in a fight with Percy when he's mad." Clarise said, surprising the gods that the daughter of the war god would say that.

"Unless you want to die," Connor added helpfully.

**-mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, **

"Grover the goat?" Apollo asked, "I like that!"

"Of course only an idiot like yourself would," Athena said, using her school teacher voice, causing the god of healing to pout.

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull. **

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom." **

**"I told you-" **

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover." **

"Loyal to the end," Annabeth said sadly, and even though Poseidon could see that everyone still believed his son was alive, or at least hoped, he still paled once more, worry deleting all rational thoughts, causing his trident to unconsciously move closer to Zeus' throat.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried **

**him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid. **

"Surprisingly, Ares decided it best not to comment at this particular moment in time, but he was sure to remember the sea princes' wuss like behaviour for when he appeared.

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. **

"Somebody really needs to get around to cutting that," Demeter said absentmindedly.

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear-I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms-which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. **

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. **

"And you would know this how?" Nico asked the book, and since inanimate objects cannot reply, he was met with only some weird looks.

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real. **

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-" **

**"Pasiphae's son," **

Athena's eyes widened as she stared at the king of the sea, and even though he couldn't see he look at that currently moment in time, he could defiantly fell it, and he just sighed, saying "Yes Athena she's smart, as well as beautiful, kind, loving, understanding, and just amazing in every way."

All eyes were so focused on the god, that nobody saw Connor lean across to Travis, muttering, "Maybe we should send a tape to Sally too?"

"Good idea bro, thank Hades, we decided to put up all those hidden cameras." Travis replied, a devilish, and slightly demonic grin slowly spreading across his face.

**my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you." **

"Well that's cheerful." Said Jason, sarcasm dripping heavily from his words.

**"But he's the Min-" **

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power." **

"Very smart," Athena said as she decided that she would bless the mortal once this was all over, many of the other gods, had also decided this also, including Aphrodite.

**The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least. **

**I glanced behind me again. The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows-or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. **

**"Food?" Grover moaned. **

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" **

"Idiot," grumbled Rachel.

To the surprise of the room, it was Jason who stood up for his cousin, "You have to remember that he's still sort of new to this."

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough." **

Athena's eyes widened, but Apollo thought that the room had heard enough about how smart Poseidon's ex lover was, so he quickly read on, also knowing that the sea god swimming in too much worry to pick up on the complement.

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. **

"Well somebody has anger issues." Nico said quietly to himself however a few caught his words, and yet didn't laugh as they were also worried for their friend, or the hero they had heard so much about.

**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying. Oops. **

Apollo interrupted himself, "Oops indeed."

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?" **

**"How do you know all this?" **

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me." **

"No your weren't Sally, you looked after him and loved him, how many times do you want me to tell you this, because I will keep telling you until you believe me. You're a queen among mortals, and I just wished that you had accepted." Poseidon said, and once again nobody had the heart to tell him that he was talking to a book.

**"Keeping me near you? But-" Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. **

**He'd smelled us. **

A small pool of water began to gradual grow around Hades' feet, a silent warning of that would happened if his son was harmed.

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. **

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. **

Poseidon's hold on his trident faltered slightly, making it so that if the lord of the sky wanted to, he could escape and try and get some distance between him and his worried brother, but since he did have a heart on occasions, he stayed when he laid.

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said." **

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the **

**creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. **

Silently Aphrodite wrinkle her nose in discuss.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. **

The gulp, which escaped from the sea lord, echoed around the throne room, where almost everyone was sat at the edgy on their chairs, other that Ares, who was sat back eating some popcorn that he had made appear.

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and **

**at the last moment, I jumped to the side. **

"He's brave." Zeus said to everyone's surprise.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. **

Dionysus spoke up from his throne, "You would; you're literally right next to the barrier."

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. **

"As is his mother." Hera added to her husband's earlier words.

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" **

The wine god grunted, telling the room that he was right, even though they all already knew.

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had **

**learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

Poseidon's hands loosened slightly on his trident, as he once more began to pale, but even though Zeus could now easily get away, he stayed there, worry filling his eyes as he watched his brother's sorrow.

**"Mom!" **

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" **

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone. **

Surprisingly all of the gods had grew empathy with the young demigod from reading his thoughts for so long, so in that moment the entire room froze, not a sound to be heard anywhere, not even the sound of air being inhaled, or exhaled. Those who were less affected by the death of a mortal froze none the less, shock filling them as they looked at the lord if the sea, his weapon had clattered to the ground, as he curled himself up into a ball, wrapping his arms around himself, with his head resting on them. On top of all of this, instead of moving away, Zeus stayed by Poseidon, putting a comforting arm around his brother.

**"No!" **

That one word ran around the sea lord's head, as he tried to get to grips with the fact that Sally Jackson, his Sally had been killed there and then, and their son was forced to witness that act. By now everyone had caught onto the fact that even though Amphitrite was his wife, and his immortal love, this mortal woman would always be his queen, and a queen among mortal, enchanting everyone she meets, even the king of the sea, and nobody was under any misconception that said god wouldn't make her is immortal love for all eternity if he could.

**Anger replaced my fear. **

"Well he's dead," Thalia said, smiling softly.

Poseidon was buried too deep in worry to pick up on the smile in her voice, or remember what was said earlier, so he took this as bad news, thinking that he was about to lose his son also.

**Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. **

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. **

_Dissolve? _Thought Athena, starting to put the dots together.

**I couldn't allow that. **

"Loyal to the end," Nico said, also smiling slightly, but he soon stopped when he saw how his words made Lord Poseidon flinch.

**I stripped off **

"Jeez kid even I know that there's a time and a place for everything," Hermes said, attempting to brighten the room, but with his uncle still unmoving on the marble floor, it didn't do much good.

**my red rain jacket. **

"Oh," he said, gaining a few awkward and nervous chuckles.

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" **

Thalia raised an eyebrow, "Ground beef, really?"

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists. **

**I had an idea-a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment. **

**But it didn't happen like that. **

The ocean began to viciously beat against the shore, as the god in charge of it all, began to shiver. He had lost sons before, but this time it felt more really, as though he was more vulnerable, and he didn't know if it was because of the fact that the mother of his child has just been slaughtered, or the face that he could clearly hear, or see what was going through Percy's head during it, or if it was just because he was so young.

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. **

**Time slowed down. **

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. How did I do that? **

"Don't ask us, we don't know," Hephaestus told the book.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. **

This time it wasn't just Poseidon who flinched, it was the entirety on the room, who were all currently sitting at the edge of their seat, unless they were on the ground, even the demigods who knew what had happened to their friend, they had never found out in so much detail before, and they couldn't decide if they liked it or not.

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward. **

"And also he has less of a brain that your father or Ares," Artemis said absentmindedly, half glad that nobody had overheard, or at least that acted as though they hadn't, because after she said it, she scolded herself for letting her brain to mouth filters to slip up at such a tense time.

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. **

**"Food!" Grover moaned. **

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life **

**out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap! **

"Wow" was all that Leo said.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. The monster charged. **

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barrelled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. **

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. **

**The monster was gone. **

"Just how powerful is he?" Jason asked, slightly in awe, but also feeling quite jealous, "I mean, he's twelve, fought two monsters who could have quite easily killed a trained demigod, and yet acting purely on instinct and he takes them out."

Looking at the faces of most of the gods, they agreed with his words.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. **

Hera began to soften to the young demigod, thinking that if he loved his mother that much, then he couldn't be that much of a bed person. Could he?

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. **

_Maybe this male isn't as bad as all the rest, he definitely seems to care for his family and friends, at least those who deserve it. _Thought Artemis, silently making it her mission to find out the boy's true colours.

**I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go. **

The godlings smiled at the determination and loyalty of their friend, and how it has saved them countless times before, while Poseidon had managed to get himself back together, knowing that his child would be okay now, and Zeus sensing this, moved away back to his throne, and the sea god copied only seconds later, while holding water around his brothers' heads, and by the time he dropped them, both gods were coughing in attempt to gain more oxygen and rid themselves of the water, which had made a home in their lungs.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. **

Said girl blushed a pale shade of red, causing her fellow demigods to laugh into their hands.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be." **

"Ohh is he the one?" Connor asked, making the demigods to explode in laughter, confusing all the gods but Aphrodite.

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside." **

Now the daughter of Athena was doing a very good impersonation of a tomato while the more immature of their group proceeded to tease her.

"Well who would..."

Before he got to finish, Athena interrupted him, asking, "Did anybody else notice how Sally Jackson didn't die like a normal mortal would, she dissolved into a golden light?"

Annabeth spoke before anyone else got a chance to, "I'm sorry but that would be a spoiler, so if you think you have a clues on what happened, or any suspicions, can you keep them to yourself please, we can't tell you anything, whether it's to confirm, or deny."

When Apollo tried to speak again, to ask who would like to read next, he was interrupted even sooner, but this time by his sister, who leant across to him, and took the book into her hands, signalling that she would be the next to read.

**O:O:O:O:O**

**A/N: So drachma for your thoughts? What did you think? And also out of curiosity, what is your favourite paring including Percy, can be male or female, immortal, or mortal?**

**Once again, I'm so sorry, I try to save more often, and maybe, if I can, I will try to update during the week a bit, since I've got a bit of free time, no promises though.**

**Please, please review, blue cookies for all that do **

**-Ingradera**


	7. I Play Pinochle With A Horse

**Disclaimer: I own nada. *sulks***

**A/N: I think that I may have a Roman in my class… The other day we were sat in RE and miss was showing us a PowerPoint with pictures that was meant to help us memorise the key texts we need in our exam, and one point there was a photo of a stormy looking middle-age bordering on old mad, who was meant to represent God, but naturally me being obsessed with PJO leant over to my friend next to me and whispered that it was Zeus, only moment before a boy across the room shouted out that it was Jupiter. So now do I make friends, or kill before he can kill me?**

**Also in response to a review posted much earlier, in my opinion Percy can speak Latin, even if it's only the basics, because when he was at Yancy, Chiron, or Mr. Brunner, was his Latin teacher, and he talks about how the conjugated verbs kept swimming around his head, additionally, when at Camp Half-Blood and throughout the books, he keeps saying random phrases in Latin, and a few in Greek I think, but finally, he spent some time at Camp Jupiter, so I'm sure he must have picked something up there, no matter how small.**

**In the previous chapter, Poseidon was angry with his brothers, because, Zeus made the stupid rule that they couldn't see their kids, and also sent lightning to shot his son, his past and sort of present love, and his son's best friend off the road, messing up their chance to get away, and he's annoyed at Hades for sending the Minotaur, and the Fury after Percy in the first place.**

**What can I say, I like Rise of the Guardians, and I had re watched it the same day that I wrote that part.**

**O:O:O:O:O**

As Artemis tried to read the chapter name, she, like her brother had constantly been before, was interrupted, but not by a person, but by a single sheet of paper which chose that moment to appear, and start its graceful decent to the cold marble, and when it finally reached its destination, Thalia walked up and grabbed it, scanning through it, a small smile beginning to grow on her lips as she did so, before she glanced up through her lashes, and reading it out to the room, "_Slowly they shall arrive, one by one, to join you as you read, learning about their friends life. Once everyone is assembled, he shall return, back to the ones who have missed their very own sea prince.'"

Once she had finished, all the faces of the demigods held smiles and grins of different sizes. Artemis looked at her future lieutenant, who sent her an apologetic look before gesturing for her to begin.

**I PLAY PINOCHLE WITH A HORSE **

"Because that's normal." Nico said once again sarcastically.

"Well it is Percy," said Travis.

Connor continued, "Do you really expect him to say anything remotely sane?"

The whole of the demigods, and a few gods shook their heads, grins plastered onto their faces, showing that they had clearly gotten over the drama that was the last chapter, but Poseidon couldn't help but wondering, if that was just him getting to camp, what would the rest of his life be like?

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food. **

"So one of your more normal dreams then?" Thalia asked innocently.

"Pretty much," Annabeth confirmed.

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. **

"I like his thinking," Said Hermes.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Of course you would."

"Well what is it they say, 'great minds think alike?'"

"Yes, but they also say 'but idiots rarely differ'"

"HEY! I take offence in that!"

**I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. **

"Nom," said Apollo slightly dreamily, "Ambrosia."

**The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"Naww young love," teasedThalia.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?" **

Rachel looked at Annabeth in shock, "You really expect him to know something?"

"I was kind of desperate for information at this point, and I thought he might have a lead, I mean he was new, and I had already tried to get info of everybody else to no success."

**I managed to croak, "What?" **

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!" **

Athena's brow turned itself into a frown, before she looked at her daughter, realization alight in her eyes, but she didn't get any response, even thought she had clearly seen her, which caused the goddess of architecture to pout.

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..." **

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding. **

"Such a charmer," Piper said laughing.

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone. **

"Naww he misses you already, this is going to be a fun relationship to mess with!"

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them-on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands. **

"That freaked me out the first time I saw him," Nico said with a slight shudder.

"I think it freaked everybody out Neeks," Thalia said through her laughter.

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. **

"Poor boy," Hestia said mainly to herself, and yet the whole rooms head her concern with ease.

**I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. **

Annabeth flinched for some reason unknown to the gods, and the Stoll brothers looked down, sad expressions on their faces.

**My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt. **

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry. **

"Nectar," Hermes squealed like an over excited fan girl.

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy. **

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ... **

"No such look seaweed brain."

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this." **

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap. **

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare. **

"Well no!" Ares said, back to taking every opportunity to make fun of the kid, and also at the same time, every opportunity to take a shower.

**"The Minotaur," I said. **

**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-" **

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull." **

"Poor Percy," said Nico, remembering what he felt like when he lost Bianca, and he had lashed out at everything that moved, and even a few things that didn't.

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?" **

**"My mom. Is she really ..." **

**He looked down. I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight. **

"Why thank you, I do try my best," Apollo said mock bowing.

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful. **

"I'm sorry…" the sun god said apologizing, which slightly surprised the group.

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm-I'm the worst satyr in the world." **

"Don't you ever say that again, you know we love you, you know Percy classes you as his best friend, and would do anything for you." Thalia said, scolding the book.

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. **

"That was hard, and probably painful," Hephaestus said to no one in particular.

**I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole. **

"Oh thank gods."

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled. **

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky. As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, well, that settles it. **

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head. But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even Minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light. **

It seemed as though Poseidon was trying to blink tears out of his eyes, but nobody dared to question him about it.

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? **

"Not if I have anything to do with it, I'll find a way to have you live with me!" Poseidon told his paper son, and sent a glare at Zeus, just daring him to test him.

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. **

"I really hope that it doesn't come to that, but if it does, I'll keep an eye out for him and protect him brother," Hestia told Poseidon.

**I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. **

"Honestly I doubt that you would pass for seventeen, but even if you did, war is a nasty place, and you're too young, you'll just end up dead straight away, but I guess I'll protect you if I have to, or Uncle will kill me." The war god said, and nobody could work out if he was for or against it, his words said one thing, but his body language contradicted it.

**I'd do something. **

"Stay at camp all year?" Apollo asked, which made everyone look at him as thought he had grown a third head, "What? I can see how Poseidon and Hestia didn't get it, they don't have kids at camp, well before Percy, but come on Ares, I didn't think you were that dim."

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid-poor goat, satyr, whatever-looked as if he expected to be hit. **

"He probably did, you know what his confidence was like back then," Annabeth said sadly.

**I said, "It wasn't your fault." **

"Exactly what I keep saying," Thalia said brightly.

Hermes grinned at that, "So you're telling me dear sister that you think on the same lines as the boy, who you are always questioning the sanity of?"

Thalia's eyes widened in horror, but nobody expected what she was going to say, "Oh Styx, I'm your half-sister." With that she put her head in her hands, and Annabeth comforted her.

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you." **

"And you did, you warned them that the monster was coming didn't you?" Rachel asked.

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?" **

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was." **

"Is the poor boy going to lose his job for this?" Hestia asked.

"Most probably," Dionysus confirmed.

After that short statement, the goddess of the hearth looked as though she was about to cry, while the wine god didn't even seem to notice.

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming. **

"I always knew thinking too hard hurt him," Katie said laughing, some of the others joining in also.

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." **

**He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips. **

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. **

"So nice, too bad too much will kill us," Nico said downhearted.

**And not just any cookies-my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. **

By then it wasn't just Apollo and Hermes who were daydreaming about food, but everyone.

**Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her **

**hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay. **

_Mama's boy, _Ares thought instead of said, because he wasn't in the mood for a dip in the Atlantic, or even the Pacific, but he got it anyway.

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted. **

"'It's a kinda magic'" sang Apollo.

**"Was it good?" Grover asked. **

**I nodded. **

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty. **

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

"Yes please, you should have," Zeus said, a sly smile working its way onto his face, but it quickly vanished when his daughter decided to throw some lightning his was for insulting her friend, and wishing him dead.

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered." **

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Homemade." **

"Best cookies in the world," Nico confirmed, and several of the other demigods nodded in agreement.

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?" **

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards." **

The room, or at least the part of the room that gave a Hades cheered.

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff" **

**"What do you mean?" **

"You'll die kelp head, and that wouldn't be good news for us now would it?"

Annabeth smacked her friend upside the head, while the gods just looked on in confusion.

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting." **

"At least he's getting better at changing the subject," Connor said.

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse. **

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go. **

"We all know that feeling. Right?" Travis asked, and all the demigods nodded.

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath. **

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture-an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena-except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings. **

"It really is beautiful isn't it?" Aphrodite said, dreamily.

"You're not imagining it my son."

Will smile, "Why do we go tell Blackjack that Percy thinks that he's a hallucination?"

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them. **

"He loved you," sung Apollo, and Aphrodite nodded in agreement, while Annabeth just sat there and blushed.

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather. **

Luckily Dionysus was really asleep when it came to his description, otherwise they feared that they may have to protect Percy when he finally comes in.

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, **

"Just a camper?" Annabeth asked in mock annoyance.

**but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ." **

"Cause that's definitely going to confuse the lad," Hephaestus said.

"Wow Phesty, I think that's the most you've said all day." Ares mocked.

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me. **

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard. **

"How can you see his beard?" Athena asked, "His back is facing you."

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried. **

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B. **

Connor cheered, while Travis and Will sulked.

"Do we even want to know?" Demeter asked.

"Well," Travis started, "If we have a pop quiz and we doing know the answers, I always put A."

"I put C," Will continue.

"And I put B" Connor said grinning.

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

Hades sent a questioning look towards Annabeth who just shook her head, saying, "I don't like to play, and luckily, I get a choice."

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you." **

"DIONYSUS!"

"Sorry daddy."

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr. **

"I guess he had a brain for some things." Athena admitted grudgingly.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl. She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

"Percabeth!" Squealed the love goddess.

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron." **

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. **

"And how exactly do they ruin the image?" Annabeth asked, slightly angry, her mother agreeing with every word, while thinking, _that's right, hate the sea spawn._

"Maybe if you would alone me to read I could tell you?"

**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight. **

"Good save, and honestly I was, and I was trying to work out who you parent was."

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that. **

"Nope," Travis said popping the p.

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep." **

The entirety of the room erupted in laughter that possibly could have even been heard in the lower town of Olympus.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her. **

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?" **

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron." **

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?" **

"Well no," said none other than Nico.

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't **

**just go around using them for no reason." **

**"Oh. Right. Sorry." **

"He has no idea what you're on about," Leo said matter-of-factly, and when some people started to give him weird looks he just defended his statement, "What? I have to say that I felt the exact same way."

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time." **

**"House call?" **

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence." **

"That's going to confuse him, and fuel his ego." Hera said.

"Actually Lady Hera, if there's anybody who needs their ego boosting, it's Percy, he must be one of the most modest people I've ever met." Thalia said, sticking up for her cousin.

"And I can't wait for seaweed brain to return, not only so we can find out where the hell he's been, but also so that he can defend himself."

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class. **

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked. **

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test." **

"And until you get there it was also the hardest test," Travis said, while Poseidon once again paled, but only slightly this time.

**Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?" **

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt. **

"Hey!"

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously. **

**"I'm afraid not," I said. **

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said. **

**"Sir," I repeated. I liked the camp director less and less. **

"Don't worry you're not the only one mate, but thank Zeus he's sleeping again, or you'll probably be a dolphin by now." Will said laughing.

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules." **

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said. **

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?" **

"He's stupid." Athena said.

"No," counted Artemis, to everyone's surprise, until she finished her sentence, "He's male."

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question." **

If you listened hard enough, you could hear the god of the seas mumbling about waist-of-space wine gods, who need to learn their places.

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile. Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer. **

"So no pressure right?" Jason asked.

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?' **

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her." **

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?" **

Earthquakes hit several countries, and slowly everyone started to inch away from Poseidon.

**"What?" I asked. **

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did. **

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient." **

"Awww, the film's the best bit!" Connor and Travis said together, while everyone else who had seen it just nodded

**"Orientation film?" I asked. **

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"-he pointed to the horn in the shoe box-"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods-the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive." **

"Why yes we are," Apollo said proudly.

**I stared at the others around the table. **

**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points. **

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?" **

"Poor Perce, he's probably thinking that he's still asleep or something," Will said.

"We've all had that idiot," Katie said, smacking Travis across the head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Oh sorry, force of habit."

**"Eh? Oh, all right." **

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully. **

"That's not healthy, he should have some cereal instead." Demeter said.

Persephone just rolled her eyes, "Mother cereal don't make the world turn around."

"You've changed her," said Demeter glaring at Hades.

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God." **

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God-capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical." **

"Arg, this is even confusing me!" Nico exclaimed.

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-" **

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter." **

"Smaller?" Zeus asked.

**"Smaller?" **

Once again everybody laughed, even if they did already know that Zeus was never sane to begin with.

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class." **

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them." **

The gods not named sulked, while those that were did their own impersonations of the Chester Cat.

**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloudless day. **

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you." **

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're-myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science." **

"Well it was nice knowing you mate," Travis said.

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody-**

"What's wrong with that name?" Zeus asked.

"Maybe because it was your son's name?" Poseidon asked innocently.

**"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo **

**jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals-they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me." **

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. **

"At least he can pick up on some things," Artemis said, interrupting herself.

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut. **

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?" **

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, **

"Well something makes you change your mind," Annabeth said so quietly that only the few closest to her could hear.

**but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate. "You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said. **

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?" **

"That's harsh," Persephone complained.

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. **

"He's good at that, unlike some god of war and his children." Rachel told everyone.

**I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods." **

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you." **

"You better not, or things will become less that pleasant," threatened Poseidon.

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock." **

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'" **

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine. **

"You had better not!" Thundered Zeus.

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up. **

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions." **

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise. **

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!" **

"No one would believe that," Hera scolded.

**More thunder. **

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game. **

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits." **

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space. **

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time-well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away-the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair." **

"Well it is completely your own fault," Zeus said _

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid. **

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..." **

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course." **

"Well he can't just pluck it out of thin air now can he?" Annabeth asked with a dangerous undertone to her voice.

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master. **

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine." **

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?" **

**"Y-yes, Mr. D." **

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?" **

"Nope you're nowhere near good looking enough." Aphrodite said grinning.

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child." **

**"A god. You." **

Since everyone in the room agreed wholeheartedly with the statement, they all laughed at the fact that they had never thought to say it before.

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life. **

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly. **

**"No. No, sir." **

"Once again he did the smart thing?" Thalia asked in complete and utter false shock.

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win." **

Noo!" Wined Hermes.

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me." **

Apollo and Hermes cheered, and started performing some chant to congratulate the centaur.

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. **

"He is," confirmed Hades.

**He got up, and Grover rose, too. **

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment." **

"I bet he did better than you could have done." Annabeth said scowling.

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir." **

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

"Says you," Hephaestus said.

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably. "Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron. **

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus." **

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?" **

"The original yes." Athena said as thought it was common knowledge.

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do." **

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?" **

"Last time I checked yup," stated Hermes, popping the p.

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West." **

**"The what?" **

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or **

**as I hope you know, since you passed my course-**

"He passed?" Athena asked shocked.

**the heart of the fire moved to Rome, **

"Whoop Rome," cheered Jason.

**and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods." **

**"And then they died." **

"Do we look dead to you boy?" Ares bellowed.

"Urm dad," Clarise started, "You do know you're shouting at a book right."

Ares glared at his daughter, while Connor leaded across to his brother, muttering, "I think we have found another subject for Percy."

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. **

"Now that was a beautiful country, too bad for all of the rain though," Aphrodite said.

**All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either-America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here." **

**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club. **

"Well we do get t-shirts," Said a grinning Travis.

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?" **

"Well that is the lifelong question isn't it?" Hades asked.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was **

**paralyzed from the waist down. **

"Keep thinking that then punk," Clarise said, with a small hint of fondness in her voice.

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin **

**eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate." **

"That's unhealthy," complained Demeter.

"Doesn't stop everyone from loving it though, does it?" Nico asked.

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, **

"What does that kid have with underwear?" Hephaestus asked.

**but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached. I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk. **

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. **

"Too much information," Piper complained.

**Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers." **

"Well there you have it, who wants to read next?" Artemis asked, but before she could get a response out of anybody, the golden light had returned, and everybody leaned forward to try to catch the first glimpse of who, or what it was.

**O:O:O:O:O**

**A/N: So then, who, or what do you think is appearing, please review or PM me with your ideas, as I am curious to see what you think, and also I'm not completely sure who/what it shall be yet, but I have a few ideas. *Throws blue cookies at everyone who reviewed the last chapter." There's more where that came from for those who press the little button, which says review on it. Finally, I think I'm surrounded by Romans, at tea the other day, me and my brother were talking about the gods, and when I said about Ganymede, Zeus' immortal lover and the wine server to the gods, my mum asked if that was Bacchus****, so I corrected her, telling her that she was thinking of Dionysus, who isn't the wine server, but the god of wine. And finally, who is your favorite god/goddess/titan, good or bad, minor or major, even if they are not mentioned in the series?**


	8. I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

**Disclaimer: I, in no way, shape, or form own PJO.**

**A/N: Nico has come from a time slightly before the others, so he has yet to be trapped in Tartarus, while looking for the doors of death. **

**Big shout out to **KK,** thank you for the amazing review, and believe me, I do aim to complete this book, and then carry on the complete the rest of the series also, additionally, good though with the AND, didn't notice that.**

**Percy shall be there soon, but we can't be too nice and bring him in too early can we :D**

Shinethedown, **I will try not to follow other stereotypes from here on in, thank you :) **

**I agree with **Hasenpfeffer**, Frank and Hazel should be in before that, and be in pretty early into the story, then they get to learn more about their friend.**

**Anyway, continuing on, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and every other chapter uploaded, it means a lot to me, so THANK YOU! Here's the next chappy, home you enjoy, and sorry for the wait.**

**O:O:O:O:O**

Slowly the golden light began to fade, and as soon as it was dull enough for the occupants of the room to open their eyes without them being burnt right out of their sockets, they looked at the new arrival. Stood almost to attention in the centre of the room was a strong looking teenager, with a buzz cut and a bow slung across his back, looking as though he had just come straight out of a battle. Only a select few heard the almost silent moan coming from the Ghost Prince, but unfortunately the new arrival did, causing him to spin around, distracted momentarily from the gods and architecture.

"Nico!" Exclaimed the boy.

"Hey Frank," Nico replied almost reluctantly.

"My gods, Hazel was so worried about you, I mean you said you were going to look for the Doors of Death, and then the next thing we know you've been captured. What the Pluto happened?"

Now not only was the gods and demigods confused out of their minds at the conversation, but Nico seemed to be also.

"What do you mean captured? I told you that, and when I tried to go I ended up here instead."

Poseidon decided to do the smart thing, and ask the question everyone was asking, "Who are you?"

Once again the boy pivoted around, facing the gods yet again, eyes widening as he spotted the power radiating off the fifteen beings before him, "I'm Frank Zhang, son of Mars, Lord Poseidon?" He finished uncertainly.

"That's my boy!" Boomed Mars from across the room, making his son raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"If you are Roman, how can you recognise me in this form?" Poseidon asked.

"Urm, well I just guessed, because you look very much like Percy."

On hearing this, Annabeth almost jumped out of her chair, "You know Percy?"

"Can we get on with the book?" Asked an irritated Hera, "Introductions can wait until everyone is here, as I doubt he will be the last visitor."

A seat appeared at the end of the line by Jason, so he sat down and listened as everything was explained to him, while Annabeth just shot him a look that screamed, _we WILL talk!_

"Well," Hestia started, immediately capturing the attention of the room, "Now that is sorted, who would like to read?"

"If it's okay, I would like to?" Frank asked, before getting to go ahead and collecting the book for him to begin.

**I BECOME SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM **

"Oh gods," complained both Annabeth and Clarise, though no further explanation was supplied.

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, **

"Wait, what? A horse?" Frank asked confused, then listening intently while the demigods told him about Camp Half-Blood.

**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front. **

The room burst out laughing, the carefree atmosphere falling around them once more as they hoped that nothing would happen to set anyone off again.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him." **

Connor and Travis looked at each other, before turning to face Will, who had a soft frown on his face.

"I think that was me." He said just to have the Stolls to confirm that.

Katie laughed to herself as she remembered that particular day, ignoring the looks being cast by those who didn't already knew what happened.

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. **

"Way to go Perce," Nico said, his carcasses returning yet again, "Make it sound like everyone walks around half naked."

"Well Corpse Breath, they do, well the satyrs do at least," Thalia said, smiling softly.

Frank looked at Nico, questions running through his eyes, but the heir of the Underworld just told him, "I'll explain it all later."

**I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something. **

"Honestly," Connor started, "I don't know what we were expecting from you, we didn't really know you back then."

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized-four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. **

"Sounds nice," approved Frank, though he was thinking that New Rome was a bit better so far.

**I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched. **

"What with it being you, you probably were," Annabeth stated, a hint of sadness slithering into her words, causing Poseidon to once again curse the Fates.

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron. **

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic." **

**"Somebody lives there?" **

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing." **

Apollo clapped slowly though not sarcastically, "Well played, well played indeed."

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain. **

"Oh there was," Clarise confirmed, making Frank raise an eyebrow once more, a trick he had picked up from Percy, but he decided it best not to ask.

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his light-hearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see." **

"He is rather observant isn't he?" Persephone commented.

Athena just had to differ with that one, "Maybe not that observant, I bet anyone would have picked up on that."

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe. **

"I sounds relaxing, unlike Camp Jupiter," Frank pointed out.

Jason confirmed that theory, "Believe me, it is."

Frank's eyes widened, "Jason Grace?" He asked unsure.

Before he could get a response, Athena coughed and motioned for him to continue reading.

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort." **

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead. **

"Wouldn't want him to go against his restrictions now would we?" Zeus asked, a face caring tone to his words, causing the wine god to shrink back into his throne.

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. **

"No!" Thalia said laughing.

"Well not yet," Annabeth corrected, a smile also meeting her lips.

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D. **

"He's loyal, just like his father," Hestia pointed out.

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really." **

"That's our Perce," Nico said, "Loyal to the end."

Poseidon raised an eyebrow, _how come everyone is making it sound like he's dead? What happened?_

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him **

"Or her!" Artemis added.

**safely to Half-Blood Hill." **

**"But he did that!" **

"Others may not exactly see it that way," Thalia said sadly.

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part." **

Those who had made a bond with the young satyr fell bad for him, and wished that he would reach his goal.

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble. **

"Always blaming himself," Nico said sadly while he remembered Bianca.

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?" **

"That was his second chance Kept Head."

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age... ." **

**"How old is he?" **

**"Oh, twenty-eight." **

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?" **

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years." **

"That's horrible!" Exclaimed Hermes, "Who would want to be in middle school for six years?"

**"That's horrible." **

Yet again the room started to laugh, while the messenger god just sat they slouched over pouting.

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career... ." **

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?" **

Many flinched at the memory, the gods more so as it was still fresh in their minds.

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?" **

"Please do." Thalia almost begged.

"You know daughter it was his fault you turned into a tree."

"No father it was yours! You could have just let me die. At the start of the book we heard Percy's feelings about being a demigod, and at that age he had been through a hell of a lot less that I had, even if he has done ten times more now, but as you will find out, turning me into a tree was one of the worst things you could have done, not to mention how painful it was!"

Silence fell for a few moments, before Frank broke it to read on, his curiosity too strong to wait any longer.

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. **

"Do you agree with my wife now dear niece?" Hades asked, though the goddess just ignored him, which in itself was comment enough.

**The beginnings of an idea-a tiny, hopeful fire-started forming in my mind. **

"Perseus no!" Commanded his father.

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..." **

**"Yes, child?" **

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?" **

Many faces in the room darkened as they pieced together to you hero's plan.

**Chiron's expression darkened. **

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind." **

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?" **

"Is this really the same guy who always acts so stupid all the time?" Travis asked laughing.

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods." **

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans. **

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed." **

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?" **

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

"Do you honestly think he will?" Hephaestus asked.

**"My own-?" **

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later." **

"Enter confused Percy," Will sang, much to his father's approval.

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), **

"I wonder why," Ares said sounding bored.

**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights. **

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked. **

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall." **

"Way to change the subject," Apollo said.

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls. **

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked. **

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. **

"Nah you were just born a little weird," Frank said interrupting himself.

**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject. **

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, **

"Only twelve?" Piper asked confused, which in turn confused the gods, who sent questioning looks at their children.

"Percy," Annabeth said as the only answer.

**nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen. **

"Oh thanks," Demeter said, strangely sarcastically.

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. **

"HEPHESTUS!" Exclaimed Leo.

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. **

"Demeter," Katie said calmly.

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. **

"Apollo," sung Will and Apollo.

**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed). **

"You sure he's not my kid," Apollo joked, a huge grin spread across his face.

"No brother he's too good to be one of yours," Artemis said to the surprise of everyone present, while the sun god and his son just pouted.

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick. **

"Yay! He sees me," said a happy Hestia.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. **

Thalia stayed quite while she inspected his knife, so Jason introduced it, however reluctant, "Zeus."

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks. **

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed. **

"Wow he learned something in class?" Thalia asked in mock horror, causing the room to laugh.

**"Correct," Chiron said. **

**"Their cabins look empty."**

"As most of the cabins there should," snapped a mardy Hera, though she was just ignored.

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two." **

Jason and Thalia shouted out at the same moment, 'What about us?'

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot. **

"Gods I'm going to kill your kid Poseidon!" Ares growled.

Before the sea god had any chance the reply, most of the demigods burst out laughing at the threat, before Clarise managed to control herself long enough to choke out, "Good luck their dad."

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty? **

"Because some people know how to be faithful, or to keep an oath!"

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three. **

"Your home," sighed the sea king happily.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, **

"Ha I'm better than you!"

"No brother, you just enjoy showing off more."

Not that Annabeth would say it out loud in fear of angering the sky god, but she agreed with Poseidon, water could have more control that air, just as it would work the other way round also, but she knew that Percy was a lot like his father, and the Seaweed Brain wasn't just loyal, but modest too.

**but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. **

"From a none bias point of view, I have to say it's one of the better looking cabins," Rachel said.

**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!" **

"Let him, he recognises his home there," declared Hestia softly.

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls **

**glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept **

**there. **

"No one has in a long time my son."

**The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy." **

"Shouldn't he realise who the boy's father is?" Hephaestus asked, but no one could really think of a reply for several minutes, before wisdoms daughter spoke up.

"I think he did, but he didn't want to believe it at that current moment in time."

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red-a real nasty paint job, as if the colour had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. **

"Ares," Grunted Clarise, "Don't dis it or you will be pulverised punk!"

"Like father, like daughter," muttered Hephaestus.

**Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red. **

"Introducing Clarise," Travis told the ones that didn't know with a smile.

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed. **

"Oh you will," muttered Annabeth.

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here." **

"PARTY PONIES!" Exclaimed Hermes and Apollo together.

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..." **

**He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am." **

"He just had to mention that.. That… Pathetic waste of space of a hero!" Exploded Thalia to the surprise of her father, while her mistress seemed quite impressed.

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?" **

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons **

**ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed." **

"You always will be needed," Annabeth said confidently.

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list. **

"What would be?" Nico asked, genuinely interested, thought nobody notice the demonic smile return to Aphrodite's glossy lips.

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?" **

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring." **

"So cheerful," Artemis said sarcastically.

As further surprise to the room, Apollo ungracefully fell from him throne, which was unusual for him, the lack of grace that is, not the falling to the floor, "You know sarcasm?" He asked completely amazed at the new discovery.

**"Why depressing?" Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again. **

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us." **

"I hate it when people change the subject on you," Leo complained.

**The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. **

"HERMES!" Shouted the Stolls and their father.

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled. **

The girl in question blushed, but gave no indication on what she was thinking, though if the look on the love goddess' face was anything to go by it wasn't about his drool.

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. **

"I know I get that all the time at school," Piper complained.

**I mean, literally Greek. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book. **

Athena looked at her favorite daughter, a proud smile etched upon her face.

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?" **

**"Yes, sir." **

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home." **

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. **

"Hey!"

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ? **

"A caduceus," Hermes said smugly.

**A caduceus. **

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center. **

"It wouldn't hurt for you to actually claim your kids would it?" Hermes asked.

One by one the gods who didn't claim all of their children suddenly found the floor very interesting, while the older Greeks who were there for the first war all thought, _go Perce!_

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully. **

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner." **

**He galloped away toward the archery range. **

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools. **

The sad look returned to Poseidon's face.

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on." **

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself. **

"A perfect entrance," Nico said sarcastically.

Will grinned, "Sure you don't mean a Percy entrance?"

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything. **

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven." **

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked. **

"That was me!" Shouted both the Stolls, causing them to fight over who it really was.

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned. **

"Eat more cereal," Demeter said bluntly.

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there." **

"Now see, he seems like a nice lad. Must have had lots of cereal growing up."

"Well maybe he did," Travis started, loud enough that only the demigods could here.

Connor continued, "But then that just shows you that cereal is the root of all evil."

"Connor! Travis!" Scolded Annabeth, "If Percy was able to forgive him for everything that he did to him, then I'm sure you can too!"

The brothers in question looked down slightly ashamed of their opinions, because they knew that she did have a point, whilst the gods' curiosity spiked, as their desire to learn more of what happened to their children grew.

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cut-offs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. **

"Luke?" Hermes asked hopefully.

The Stolls grudgingly nodded as confirmation, their faces blank.

**The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash. **

"What happened to him?" A hurt Hermes asked, only to receive a barely audible muttered promise that he would find out.

_See he did care about you, you idiot, _thought Connor.

**"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing. **

"Someone has a crush," Thalia commented, laughter obvious in her voice.

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counsellor for now." **

**"For now?" I asked. **

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers." **

"Why does he say it like it's a bad thing?" Hermes asked unsure.

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves. **

As if this just reminded the rest of the immortals in the room, they quickly began to check their belongings, before glaring at the god playing innocent, while whistling on his throne, before they screeched out, so loud that it was a surprise that the sleeping mortal city below didn't waken from the noise.

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets. **

"Oh we were, but you had nothing important in them," Travis confirmed, pouting slightly.

Katie took the opportunity to smack him around the head for his childish behaviour.

"You do know that it's said that you hit the people you fancy right?" Nico asked, looking strangely innocent.

Then Thalia hit the ghost prince, saying, "Shut it and leave her alone death breath!"

**"How long will I be here?" I asked. **

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?" **

**The campers all laughed. **

"He's new, give him a break," Hestia said as she started to like the young sea prince, thinking that someday he would make a good hero.

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court." **

**"I've already seen it." **

"He sees through your plan," Thalia said laughing.

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me. **

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that." **

**"What?" **

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one." **

"Ohh!" The room said in unison, while Annabeth blushed scarlet.

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-" **

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?" **

**"To get killed?" **

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?" **

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..." **

**"Yes." **

**"Then there's only one." **

**"Yes." **

**"And he died, like, a gazillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..." **

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die." **

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up." **

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. **

"Oh he's less that lucky," Frank muttered, "Then again he's lucky as well." He was only able to ponder on the thought briefly before he was signalled to carry on with the book.

**But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form." **

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-" **

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad." **

"Brilliant!" Muttered Poseidon darkly, "He's probably going to meet her again."

No one dared to contradict him, mostly because about half of the audience knew that he was right.

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?" **

**"You talk in your sleep."**

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?" **

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. **

"You get annoyed at one Half-Blood, and then everyone things you're going to drag them down to the Underworld if they do anything wrong!" Hades said, pouting slightly, ignoring the questioning looks he was being sent.

"Is that was the big crack in the floor is?" Jason asked, thought also got no answer, and no one noticed how Nico tensed slightly.

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all." **

**"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there." **

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent." **

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it. **

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to." **

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad." **

**"He's dead. I never knew him." **

"Unfortunately, old agley face is still alive," Athena said, complaining slightly.

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. "Your father's not dead, Percy." **

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not." **

**"Then how can you say-" **

**"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us." **

**"You don't know anything about me." **

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them." **

**"How-" **

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too." **

"She's physic!" Exclaimed Leo.

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?" **

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD-you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are." **

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?" **

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar." **

**"Ambrosia and nectar." **

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood." **

**A half-blood. **

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start. **

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!" **

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets. **

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?" **

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night." **

"Athena V Ares. This should be interesting." Artemis said.

**''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance." **

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?" **

"Changing the subject there, too scared?" Connor asked, but he stopped as soon as he spotted the drakon slayer's death glare.

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares." **

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?" **

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?" **

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell." **

"This kid will be in for hell if I ever see him!"

"Keep telling yourself that dad."

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy." **

"Ah that explains everything," Will said nodding.

**"Percy." **

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you." **

**"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say. **

**"Stay out of it, wise girl." **

"Wow, two nicknames in one chapter?" Katie asked.

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep. **

"At least he knows how that works," Hermes said.

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom. **

A grin began to spread across Poseidon's face as he began to piece things together, while Clarise seemed to become a darker red.

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking-as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out-that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns. **

"Dionysus!"

"Yes father, I'll get on it."

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there. **

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over **

**laughing, he was so stupid looking." **

"Like your dad did?" Annabeth whispered to her friend, causing her to blush more, while the rest of the demigods that knew what was going on laughed, much to the confusion to those who were unaware.

**Her friends snickered. **

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers. **

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't. **

"Oh don't worry son, knowing your parentage, you won't," the sea god assured, still grinning.

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me. **

"I. Was. Not. Screaming. Punk!" Snarled the daughter of war, while the rest of the room started to laugh.

Travis turned to face her, saying, "No point in denying it, everyone heard you."

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall. **

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. **

**The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away. As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

"Well he sure is good with his powers to say he's a beginner." Zeus noted, though surprisingly there was no hint in his voice that he was accusing his brother.

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared. **

"WHY YOU…"

"Mother leave it, it's not as though he could really control it yet."

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock. **

"How did you not figure it out from that?" Will asked, shocked.

"Oh I had a pretty good idea, but to be honest, I didn't really want to believe it, so I did everything I could to try and persuade myself that I was wrong."

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing. **

"Benefits of being my son," Poseidon said, grin still firmly in place.

**I stood up, my legs shaky. **

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..." **

**"I don't know." **

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. **

"What can we say?" Connor asked.

"It was funny to watch." Travis concluded.

**Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead." **

"Sure he is," Will said grinning, "How did that work out in the end might I ask?"

Clarise just glared at him, but he was unaffected, as he, like the majority of others were too busy laughing.

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth." **

"He's dead." Hera said with certainty,

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet. **

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her. **

"Nah I was just planning."

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?" **

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag." **

Once again the room began to laugh, before they all looked to Frank to continue, but he just closed the book, telling them that that chapter had ended, but before he thought to ask who wanted to read next, Ares snatched the book from his son, and made his way back to his throne.

"When this punk turns up I'm challenging him to a fight, you better remember that!" He snarled, before the room was once again blinded by another golden light.

**O:O:O:O:O**

**A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and sorry about the wait, will get the next chapter up soon.**

**Anyway, who do you think will be appearing soon? Please review and let me know who you thing it will be, or who you would like it to be, as well as telling me what you think on the chapter if you so wish, constructive criticism accepted, especially if it will help me to improve.**

**That's all for now folks, thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, you're amazing!**

**-Ingradera**


	9. My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke

**Disclaimer: Until the day pings fly I own nothing :(**

**A/N: Wow the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter, just wow! THANK YOU EVERYONE! I shall try to update more often, sorry for the long gap, but I'm back now, please don't hate me?**

willowskeith**- Well he always does want to get into a fight, he just needs to learn that some fights will cause permanent damage, not to his body what with him being a god, but to his ego mainly.**

Hasenpfeffer**- It may be Hazel, it may not be, and I'm not nice enough to have Percy in yet, but he will come in, just probably near the end, but he may be at the end of SoN, for now at least, I haven't fully decided yet. I'm happy that you like it so much, and fell free to nitpick as much as you want; it helps me to improve and notice mistakes.**

Marine76**- I'm glad you like it, here's the update.**

paradiseidland101**- Thank you for the review, and thank you for pointing that out, I forgot the check it before I posted it, thank you for reminding me.**

aesir21**- Percy shouldn't be returning for a while, and thank you for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

Hsjfotnvsubu**- Thank you for the review, and I may do that, I haven't decided as of yet, but it depends mainly on whether I have been able to read MoA before he comes in so that I can get his character right.**

Marnie McCloudfreak**- I do believe this shall answer your question.**

bookwormultimate**- Maybe, maybe not.**

Perseus Jackson Rules**- Well the past is the past, it won't really do all that much good if he's apologising for it all the time, I mean, everybody makes mistakes, so I'll try and make it a bit like that when he comes in.**

alyaJackson **- Here you go, enjoy!**

PurpleGoddess9**- That may be happening, but maybe no quite yet.**

Mitzipitzi**- Okay!**

SilverZelenia**- Thank you I forgot what it was, thank you so much, I have gone back and changed it.**

XxxXGreek GeekXxxX**- Well I do try, but here you go enjoy, sorry for the long wait.**

allen r**- I agree that it is a good pairing, but I think some others work quite well with Percy, but that may just be because I'm a fan of slash, though this story is a Percabeth. Also I'm afraid to say that Percy shall not be arriving in time for capture the flag.**

Shinethedown**- Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed, and I shall try my best.**

1dmp2**- Thank you, that is if it's meant to be a good interesting?**

Guest**- Done, enjoy.**

tribute324**- Thank you so much! Here you go, and it may be her.**

Ivytomlinson**- Thank you, I've corrected that now.**

Guest**- Here you go, and thank you.**

Guest**- Okay good to know.**

KK**- Thank you so much! And I'm happy that you enjoyed it. I know where you're coming from with the fact reviews don't get answered. Hope you enjoy this update too, sorry for the long wait.**

peevesisawesome**- Thank you so much, and here you go.**

Science Geek8538**- Here's your answer in update form, I hope you enjoy and like the answer.**

duck and wolf**- Sorry for the wait, and I do aim to finish this, and hopefully the whole of the series.**

lynxkit**-** **What can I say, I like Rise of the Guardians, here's the update, enjoy.**

PercyLvr2621**- Here you go!**

gabbie519**- Here's the update, but sorry he's not coming just quite yet.**

**Well that took a while to write, thank you everyone! Anyway on to the update you've been waiting for.**

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend Lizzy, who started a tradition between us on our D of E hike.**

**O:O:O:O:O**

Each person in the room had subconsciously held their breath, which they only realised once the light began to fade so that they could see the person who was hidden inside it. Most slumped with disappointment, while others put on a face of indifference, however, three in the room sat up a bit straighter as they recognised the girl who was stood, almost to attention before them, back to the gods. Said girl's eyes widened significantly before she flung herself at Nico.

"Oh my gods Nico! You're okay right?" She asked him while pushing away slightly to watch his face, which, surprisingly was sporting a large smile, and not one of his cheeky ones either, but a warm, affectionate one.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, whatever has happened in your time hasn't happened to me yet, so no spoilers k?" He replied, a slight slither of worry worming its way into his words.

A sad smile appeared on the brown haired girls face, "You'll be okay, I mean Percy is desperate to find you, especially after you pretended not to recognise him." Throughout her words, the smile on her face slowly grew into a gigantic grin,

"Oh yeah… Forgot about that," the Ghost Prince said a sheepish grin on his face, oblivious to the glares being shot at him by some of his fellow demigods.

Finally the new comer pulled away, turning to another familiar face which she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Heya Jason, long time no see. You'd better get your butt over to camp sometime, everyone has been missing you, except Octavian of course, but what else do you expect from him?"

"Hi," Jason responded, a genuine smile on his lips, "Oh I know you're going to want to know who everyone is and vice versa, but Hera has already told us to wait with Frank, and I'm guessing there will most probably be a few more popping in which shall require introductions."

"Sure that's okay," for a few brief moments she paused, turning to Frank, "Heya big guy, you had us worried," the girl said as she made her way across to the Roman, stopping just in front of him, waiting as he slowly got to his feet, before they shared a kiss, elimination any doubt in Annabeth and Piper that she was after their men.

"Long time no see."

"Clingy much? It was only a few minutes."

"For you maybe."

One eye brow rose as a puzzled expression flit **(A/N: Thanks Elandil!) **across her face, "Wait, what is going on here?"

One god was tired of being kept in the dark -even though it was his domain- so he spoke up, or rather shouted out, "First, who are you? But in answer to your question we're reading about Percy Jackson and his life entitled 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'"

"Well that's good, he never gives us that many answers when it comes to his life does he Frank," she asked, however she didn't wait for a reply, "Anyway I'm Hazel Levesque," once again she paused, looking at Frank, who gave her a quick nod before she continued, "Daughter of Pluto."

Unlike what she had expected after the Sea Prince had told her about what the gods are like when it comes to children of the big three, nobody exploded at her, or her father, partly because they could all still remember Poseidon's lecture earlier, but mainly because they had heard may years previously about her untimely death, so many of the gods were looking at her with sad eyes before Persephone asked what everyone was thinking, "How are you alive child?"

"Well I was resurrected, but since a detailed background will have to wait that is all I'm giving, besides, if we're going to be learning about Percy you'll probably find out sooner or later."

"Fair enough, another question though, would you like to read the next chapter?" Athena asked from where she was perched on her throne.

Hazel smiled up at her, "Sure, as long as somebody explains what has happened to him so far?"

Following her request the previous chapters were described in detail to her, and she was given a quick introduction to everyone in the room, so before long she was sat next to Frank with the book open on her lap, as she proceeded to read.

**My Dinner Goes up in Smoke,**

"No the poor food, it was so young!" Moaned Hermes, fake tears leaking from his eyes as he did so.

"Hermes."

"Yes Hera?"

"Grow a brain before you comment again."

This comment cause different reactions to fly through the room, some began to laugh, the god in question just pouted, while Hazel lent across to the other demigods, asking, "Is he always like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes it appears so," Piper replied.

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. **

"Got to love camp gossip," Connor said with a dreamy expression plastered across his face.

"Though I'm surprised nobody had guessed his parentage at this point," Travis added, shocking everyone that he wasn't mucking about for once.

**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured **

"Maybe the first time, but most defiantly won't be the last," muttered Annabeth to herself, thought the godlings were just able to catch her words.

**Something about toilet water. **

"Well we can all agree that that has only happened once," Will said with a grin.

**Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet. **

"No thanks to you seaweed brain!" Shouted the daughter of Athena, making the demigods start to laugh, and Aphrodite start to plot.

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), **

"So fun!" Leo exclaimed, earning him a smile of approval from his father, and a strange look from Hazel, who had only just spotted him.

"Freaky right?" Frank asked.

Pluto's daughter nodded at his question, before she pulled herself back together and continued reading.

**the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), **

Hermes' eyes fell to the ground as he thought of the son he had loved so much, who was now lost to him and the world, oblivious to the worried looks that most of the room were shooting, but there was a small number, -who were the Greek demigods who had been at camp the longest- also looked to the ground, thinking about how unfair this all was to the messenger god also, though at least he did get a bit of good news, which was in the form of a child returning, or even two children returning, after his favourite mortal child betrayed him.

**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough. **

"Scary…" Travis started

"But amazing," Connor finished.

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, **

Annabeth blushed slightly, while Rachel and Thalia sent her a knowing smirk.

**where the trail led back to the cabins. **

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall." **

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets." **

"Jeez, sometimes I wonder if all that kid ever does is apologise!" Exclaimed Nico, earning him many weird looks, "What?" He asked innocently.

"It's funny how you call him 'kid' and yet he's older than you by like three years," Katie answered, laughing slightly at his wording.

Now it was Nico's turn to laugh, before replying with a wolfish grin, "Think again flower power, I'm about sixty years older than him," he responded, sticking his tong out childishly at the end.

"Act your age then," Thalia scolded.

"And don't call her flower power again!" Said an angry Travis.

"Yeah, apparently only my dear brother can have a nickname for her," mumbled Connor.

**"Whatever." **

**"It wasn't my fault." **

"Sure, just like it wasn't the Stolls fault that Athena's cabin was filled with spiders the other week!" Piper managed to get out before Annabeth threw her dagger so that it landed exactly between the heads of the brothers, making them yelp in fear of their lives.

**She looked at me sceptically, and I realized it **_**was **_**my fault. **

"Smart Percy," Apollo said, bored of being quite for so long, though not long enough in some people's opinions.

"That's it brother, if you say another stupid thing during this book you shall have to do a forfeit," Artemis said, tired of her twins idiocy.

"Okay little sis."

Luckily, Hazel was smart enough to read on at this point, that is before there was another war.

**I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing. **

"Well," Poseidon started with a slight awkward note to his voice, "That is the first time I have heard it described like that, though I guess it is kind of accurate."

For a few seconds a silence fell upon the room, until it was destroyed, replaced instead with the loud roar of laughter coming from everyone present, including Ares and Dionysus.

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said. **

"But he hasn't met me yet," Rachel reminded the book as though it had made a huge mistake, and that it was an animant object so it could listen to her and take her words to heart. Naturally nothing happened, and nobody wanted to tell her at this point, and the others were just too confused to say anything.

"They are so lucky to have an oracle instead of Octavian!" Complained Hazel, causing the Romans to laugh, while whole heartedly agreeing.

**"Who?" **

"Moi!"

**"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron." I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once. **

**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. **

"Well now he knows how we feel when he see him down there," Thalia almost shouted, yet again causing everyone to laugh.

**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. **

"Soundly like he is describing the female version of himself almost, except from the hair of course," Annabeth informed the room, an almost dreamy expression visible in her eyes.

**They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend. **

"Technically, you are!" Poseidon exclaimed excitedly, sounding several millennia younger than his true age.

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back. **

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts." **

"So are Aphrodite kids," stated Jason.

"HEY!"

"Not you of course beauty queen," Jason said, making it up to her with a kiss, while Leo pretended to gag.

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now." **

"So the saviour of us all has snapped and wants to go home?" Leo asked, not meaning to sound quite as mean as he did.

"Hey! I'll remind you that he has just lost his mother, and now he's slowly learning about a world which he didn't even knew existed a week ago." Annabeth said, yet again standing up for her absent boyfriend.

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are****home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us." **

"Okay, I have to admit that does sound kinda creepy put like that." Nico said, eyeing the gods nervously, as though they had some evil intentions towards them.

"Don't think yourself so high _boy_," Ares scolded.

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?" **

"Well that would really sum him up," Rachel commented sarcastically.

**"I mean **_**not human. **_**Not totally human, anyway. Half-human." **

**"Half-human and half-what?" **

"Rainbow." Frank said completely deadpan, and slightly out of character, causing the room to look at him oddly, though Hazel and Nico just laughed, earning them looks of confusion.

Nico, ever being the gentleman, motioned for Hazel to explain.

"He's spent too much time around Percy."

**"I think you know." **

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad. **

**"God," I said. "Half-god." **

"How slow is he to only work it out now," Athena asked nobody in particular.

Just before Poseidon could say anything, Hestia jumped in, in her always calming manner, "Give the boy a break niece, he's been through a lot in the last few days, and nobody has yet to taken the time to completely explain anything to him."

Obviously Athena refrained from making anymore comments against the sea prince for the time being, in fear of upsetting the goddess of the hearth.

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians." **

Silence fell around them, each god feeling ashamed that it wasn't them that got to tell they children this, and that they couldn't really see that at all unless they were willing to break the rule which had been around almost as long as them. The longer the silence lasted, the higher the tension grew, until it almost suffocated the occupants, at least that was the ones which could be choked.

"Nose."

Every face in the room turned to face the fire user, who at first held a stoic expression, but quickly that was replaced as he just burst out laughing upon seeing the confused faces of every person present.

"He is not mine," Hephaestus informed the room, and even though his voice was quite firm, everybody could easily tell that he didn't mean it, and that he still cared for his slightly crazy son.

"He doesn't like tense, or awkward silences most of the time," Jason offered in way of exclamation, feeling slightly embarrassed at his friends behaviour.

For a few short seconds the silence returned as everyone started at Leo, but after Frank gently nudged Hazel, she carried on reading the book aloud.

**"That's ... crazy." **

"Just like some other people present," mumbled Zeus.

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? **

"Run down to earth and have a child with the first mortal they see?" Hera asked, the fake innocence in her voice being overwhelmed by her fury to the thought of anyone -especially her husband- being unfaithful to their partner, one reason why she felt sorry for the god of the forge.

Every god who had cheated at one time or another looked down, though Poseidon didn't appear to be quite as ashamed as he should have been, because he knew that Amphitrite was okay with his having mortal children, and was only so against Percy, because with his mother, he had truly loved her, unlike his previous partners, whom he just cared for rather deeply.

**They ran around falling in love **

"Or more commonly lust for humans," Thalia said, a bitter note to her voice, while her brother nodded, agreeing with her words.

"Though sometimes they do truly love their partners," Annabeth added, defending the gods, while casting looks between Hades and Poseidon.

**with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?" **

"Unfortunately not," Hera snapped.

**"But those are just—" I almost said **_**myths **_**again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, **_**I **_**might be considered a myth. **

"Most probably, though if not to mortals, the most defiantly to us," Annabeth muttered under her breath.

**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—" **

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods." **

**"Then who's your dad?" **

Annabeth in the hall sighed slightly as she remembered what was going to be said next.

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject. **

"Smart kelp head," Thalia sarcastically praised, while keeping one eye on her best friend.

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history." **

Confusion etched itself onto Athena's face, but after looking at her daughter, who appeared sad, but with a hint of gratefulness in her eyes, she decided to save her questions until the next break.

**"He's human." **

"And here I thought he was a jellyfish," Hermes said with a grin spread across his face.

"That's it," Artemis started, slowly becoming annoyed at the amount of stupid males in the room, "If you or Apollo say another stupid thing before the end of the book, you shall both have to pay for it."

The massager god just shrugged in response, while the rest just stared at Artemis, silently wondering what she was thinking.

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?" **

"Incredibly so," both Aphrodite and Artemis said together, making the room laugh.

"Wow my dear girlfriend knows a big word," Ares started mockingly, but upon seeing the goddess' pout he decided to take it back and apologise quickly.

**"Who's your mom, then?" **

**"Cabin six." **

"Yeah, because he's going to know that," Katie sarcastically stated.

Wisdom's daughter just shrugged, much like Hermes did before, and carried on thinking about whatever it was that was going through her head at that moment in time.

**"Meaning?" **

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle." **

**Okay, I thought. Why not? **

"Why not indeed," Athena muttered, anger tainting her words.

**"And my dad?" **

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows." **

**"Except my mother. She knew." **

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

"Didn't need to," Poseidon said lovingly.

**"My dad would have. He loved her." **

"Apparently so, now just if everyone eat as much cereal as he did," Demeter said, causing the god of whom she was talking about to just shake his head.

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble. **

**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens." **

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" **

"Unfortunately," Clarise muttered to herself, thinking about Chris as she shot daggers with her eyes towards Hermes, making the god slightly squirmed in his throne while he thought of all the children he himself had left unclaimed.

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. **

"That should be no excuse," Persephone spoke us, scolding her family, while silently being grateful that she had never been unfaithful and had children with mortals, because if she had then she would have been more likely to have ignored them also, even though she knew that they deserved better than that.

**They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us." **

Yet again silence fell upon the room, as the gods reflected on their actions, or lack of, to their children, regretting them deeply, while vowing that in the future that would chance, that they would recognise their children, and not leave them to be ignored, no matter what the Ancient laws ordered from them. At first the demigods glared at either their parent, or a parent who they knew had abandoned and ignored their children in the past, but once they worked out what was passing through their heads, they decided to give them a break, mainly because they knew that in the future each and every child would be recognised. Slowly the aura of regret faded enough for Hazel to start reading without interrupting anyone.

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. **

"A strangely accurate description," Katie muttered to herself

**I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. **

"Well it's probably accurate because he has known people like that most of his life," Travis said in response to Katie's statement earlier.

**But gods should behave better. **

"That does explain why he changed it the first true chance he got," Thalia reasoned, smiling slightly, "The world would really be a much darker place without Percy, the selfless moron." Luckily the note of fondness in her words eliminated any bite which would have originally been there.

"Not to mention we'd all be dead," Annabeth whispered softly.

Yet again nobody noticed the camera which was slipped backing into Connors pocket.

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?" **

"Oh thanks Perce, so feeling the love," Nico said sarcastically, but with just the right amount of sadness in his voice to make it appear real, though nobody believed that and just started laughing at him, which he soon joined in with.

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. **

Both gods mentioned and their children turned to glare at the daughter of Athena, but before anyone got the chance to make anything worse, or to say anything at all, Hazel began to read again.

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that." **

"Perseus was very lucky then," Apollo said seemingly to himself, missing the rare look Artemis and Aphrodite shared.

**"So monsters can't get in here?" **

"It would be kind of counterproductive if they could don't you think?" Hephaestus asked sarcastically.

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside." **

"Like someone we know did," the Stolls said in unison with a bitter edge to their words.

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" **

"Because he's a…" Will started, before catching the eyes of the gods and then his fellow demigods and stopped before he could give anything else away.

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes." **

"Killing people for their evil masters," Connor added under his breath.

**"Practical jokes?" **

Each face turned to the Hermes brothers, who just shook their heads, saying, "No way would we ever do that, I mean a couple of years ago then yeah, maybe, but not now, not after him." The last three words were no more than a mere whisper, so only Travis' brother could catch them, while smiling sadly in agreement.

**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm." **

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?" **

"Random chance of subject Perce," Frank commented, as he slowly became more comfortable around the Greeks.

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colours. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring. **

Athena locked eyes with her daughter, who nodded softly, confirming her mother's theory.

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. **

"Such a nice way to put it," Jason muttered.

"At least they get something," Hazel said, "What do we get, nothing, well unless you're in the fifth cohort, then you'll get kitchen duty or something since it's apparently full of nobodies.

"Hey it's not that bad, they just don't know that fifth is the best, or at least has the most potential, I mean, you're a fifth, as is Frank, and I was too when I was there. What about Percy, where was he up when he was at camp?" Jason asked, trying to make Pluto's daughter feel better.

"He was a fifth," Frank said.

"See fifth is underestimated, though it has some of the better fighters, daughter of Pluto, son of Mars, son of Jupiter and even the son of Neptune, and many others who will try their hardest, instead of just lazing around waiting for everyone else to do it for them." Nico said making the Romans feel better, and succeeding.

**I've been here longer than most of the counsellors, and they're all in college." **

**"Why did you come so young?" **

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business." **

"Jeez Anna, don't be so harsh, he's just curious," Thalia scolded playfully.

"Sorry mom," Annabeth responded, sticking her tong out.

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" **

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. **

"Not that that ever stopped him before," Annabeth mumbled with a sigh.

**But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..." **

**"Unless?" **

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …" **

**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well. **

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—" **

**"Ambrosia." **

"I want some!" Both Hermes and Apollo exclaimed in unison, and realised just after the words had escaped their mouths, that the statement wasn't exactly smart, which was further confirmed by the small smile pulling at Artemis' lips. The half brothers turned to each other, a slight look of fear on their faces, "Oh fates help us."

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice." **

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you **_**do **_**know something?" **

"Unlikely," Nico told everyone with a grin.

**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?" **

**She clenched her fists. **

**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. **

"Someone's feeling a bit high and mighty there aren't they?" Clarise asked Annabeth sarcastically, though she found herself ignored.

**Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so **_**normal**_**." **

"You've been to Olympus?" Poseidon asked out of curiosity.

"Read on and find out," was Annabeth's reply.

**"You've been to Olympus?" **

The sea god's face morphed into a smile upon hearing his son's words, pleased at how alike they both were.

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council." **

"Well one of them," Demeter corrected.

**"But... how did you get there?" **

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already. **

"You're really going to have to learn that he's new to all of this," Thalia said softly.

"At least it helped him learn a bit faster," Annabeth counted.

"I guess it did have some use then, just… Yeah." Zeus' daughter finished slightly unsure and awkwardly.

**"You **_**are **_**a New Yorker, right?" **

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out. **

"Good idea," Athena said with an undertone of condescending.

"I do believe that a few seconds ago Thalia informed everyone that my son was still new to this, so give him a break will you? Do you see me going around criticising your daughter and every possible opportunity?"

Surprisingly, the goddess looked down seemingly ashamed, before numbering, "Sorry Uncle."

For a few moments a shocked silence fell around the room, only broken when Hazel began to read yet again.

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. **

"Blame Hermes," Dionysus mumbled sleepily.

**And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. **

"Which is slightly childish and should have been overlooked many, many years ago," Annabeth spoke up once more, scolding her and her boyfriend's parents, and getting away with it.

**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. **

"Well you defiantly do a lot of that," Rachel muttered sarcastically so that only the demigods could here.

Yet again Athena's daughter decided it best not to reply, so she settled with merely rolling her eyes instead.

**I thought you might know something." **

"Maybe."

"Maybe not."

"So not helpful Stolls," Katie scolded.

"Lady Artemis," Thalia started politely, "Is there any way that you could include everyone who says anything stupid into Apollo's and Hermes' punishment?"

"I believe that it can be arranged."

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions. **

"So the normal?" Hazel asked.

"Nah, you know he's not that bad," Frank said.

"Though you could easily class him as mental," Nico felt the need to add.

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm **_**not **_**too young. If they would just tell me the problem …" **

"Your name isn't Percy?" Will asked innocently, while being careful to make his voice quiet enough that only the godlings heard, naturally making them laugh, and the gods to become confused.

"Quite likely," Annabeth confirmed.

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. **

"Slightly random," Jason commented.

**Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. **

**I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan. **

Each eye turned to Annabeth, as though they were silently asking her if this was in fact what she was doing.

"Urm I was just drawing a pattern, no battle plans involved."

**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, **

"Wait, Chiron was there?" Nico asked a little too innocently.

Thalia and her mistress shared a look for a few seconds before Artemis nodded, almost too small for anyone to see unless they were looking out for it.

**waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. **

"They'll be mine," Hermes said proudly.

Faster than anyone could have expected, Clarise jumped to her feat, "Well it won't hurt for you to claim them once in a while then will it? Especially since you're so proud of them!" She exploded, and if Frank and Katie hadn't gotten up to stop her, she probably would have started on everyone else there also.

Surprising most of the room, once she had calmed down again, she got up from her spot between Will and Rachel, moving over to where her half brother sat instead.

**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. **

"Quite correctly as well," Connor confirmed.

**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn. **

**The counselor, Luke, came over. **

When Hades glanced across to the demigods, he noticed that most of them had tensed up at the mention on Hermes' favourite mortal son.

**He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact. **

"Where did that come from?" Hermes asked quietly.

"Spoilers," Annabeth answered in a cold voice.

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store." **

"So nice of him," Travis said, his tone hinting at some type of betrayal, though at that current moment in time, none of the gods felt quite brave enough to ask, especially after what Hermes got for trying.

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part. **

"He's Hermes' kid, he wouldn't have been joking," Hephaestus said, slightly annoyed.

**I said, "Thanks." **

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?" **

"Like you care!" Thalia growled.

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods." **

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier." **

"Trying to recruited him now are you dear brother?" Travis asked bitterly, his voice just low enough that the gods missed it.

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. **

"Seemed being the operative word," Will muttered.

**He looked like he could handle just about anything. **

"Anything but you seaweed brain," Annabeth said her voice full of love.

"Okay," Zeus said, quickly changing the subject, "It's getting late, so once this chapter is finished off to bed with you."

Nobody complained, because they all knew that the gods needed time to talk this out, and so did that, since they had almost given everything away so many times already.

**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked. **

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, **

"Not quite yet," Thalia whispered.

**but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes." **

**"The wing-footed messenger guy." **

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travellers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors." **

Hermes frowned silently, trying to work out why his son was so bitter towards him, but finding no answers.

**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind. **

"Sure he didn't," Katie mumbled.

**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked. **

**"Once." **

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. **

"That's why Percy is such a good friend, he will only force information out of you if it's incredibly important; if it isn't he'll wait to see if you're ready to part with it on your own accord," Thalia said, thinking about the secrets she had shared with him.

**Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**

"No," Clarise answered.

**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other." **

"So that's what you call trying to kill us all then?" Connor muttered, his hurt slipping into the words.

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day. **

"Well that's just making you all look bad now," Nico said, a slight forced smile on his face as he tried to cheer everyone up.

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' **

"Yeah you're so her one Perce," Aphrodite said grinning from ear to ear, and surprisingly nobody tried to rip her throat out, both Poseidon and Athena just rolled their eyes.

**She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?" **

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies." **

"Everyone does I think," Piper said.

"Yeah they're so damn confusing," Leo added.

Thalia and Annabeth shared a look before a smile illuminated both of their faces.

"So dam annoying," Thalia said between laughs.

"A dam pain in the butt even," Annabeth commented.

"Not this again," Clarise complained with a sigh, "But Annabeth, when did you learn what Thalia and Percy were always on about?"

"I bullied it out of Perce."

**"What do you mean?" **

"Exactly what we're all wondering, just not about Luck, but about those two," Hera said pointing at the two girls, who were still laughing.

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, **

Hermes flinched slightly imagining it.

**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. **

"The great prophecy," Athena muttered to herself.

**He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp." **

"And he's very special," Thalia whispered to Annabeth, causing her to blush slightly.

**"Somebody special?" **

"Yup!" Nico said popping the p.

**"Don't worry about it, kid," **

"Why does he have to be so cold and condescending all the time," Thalia asked almost silently.

**Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime." **

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before. **

"Part of being my kid," Poseidon said happily.

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!" **

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, **

Leo, Piper and Jason looked shock at this number, and upon looking at Annabeth, decided not to ask just quite yet.

**filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. **

"Not for long," Thalia said with a smile.

**Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. **

"So beautiful," Thalia said.

**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean **_**straight **_**out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill. **

"Sounds about right," Frank said grinning.

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. **

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off. **

"Lovely image there kelp head," Thalia commented, trying not to picture it.

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. **

"Castor and Pollux," Dionysus said calming, and with quite a warm tone.

**Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares' table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends. **

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!" **

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!" **

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

"Unfortunately don't you mean?" The wine god asked.

**I said, "Cherry Coke." **

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. **

**Then I had an idea. "**_**Blue **_**Cherry Coke." **

Those who knew the meaning behind this smiled, while those who didn't just believe the sea heir was slightly loony.

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt. **

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect. **

**I drank a toast to my mother. **

"Such a nice boy," Hestia said, her sisters agreeing wholeheartedly, and ever Artemis did slightly.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday... **

"Don't you even think about it!" Poseidon said quite fiercely, "I'm not going to lose you too…" He finished in quite a depressed and sober tone.

"Don't worry Lord Poseidon, you don't need to worry about that for a long time." Annabeth said, trying to be reassuring.

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket. **

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the centre of the pavilion. **

**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something. **

"Yeah defiantly," Nico said, sarcastic once more.

**"Come on," Luke told me. **

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll. **

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell." **

**"You're kidding." **

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. **

"It does look a bit weird if you look at it that way doesn't it?" Katie asked.

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes." **

**I was next. **

**I wished I knew what god's name to say. **

"Just say daddy, it's so much simpler," Clarise said laughing slightly.

**Finally, I made a silent plea. **_**Whoever you are, tell me. Please. **_

"I will my son, I should have by now, but I guess this fight with my brother had something to do with why I haven't. I'm sorry Perseus," The sea god said, bowing his head slightly at the end, and being to only one missing the video camera which was being pointed at him.

**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. **

**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag. **

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke. **

"And we do," Apollo commented smiling.

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. **

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. **

**"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels." **

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table. **

Ares grunted his approval.

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." **

"Who's he?" Jason asked.

"I think he means Percy," Hazel said.

**Chiron murmured something. **

**"Er, Percy Jackson," **

"There you go," Pluto's daughter commented with a smile.

**Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on." **

"It's not silly," Will said pouting slightly.

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. **

"Naturally," Apollo sung.

**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home. **

"Good because you belong there, I mean it just doesn't feel right without you," Nico said softly.

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag. **

"Just think about how tired you're going to be tomorrow then," Connor said smiling.

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite. **

"Mommy's boy," Ares muttered, missing how Poseidon's, Apollo's, Hermes' and Nico's eyes flashed dangerously.

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly. **

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood. **

**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home. **

"Well that's not foreboding at all," Franks said with a grin plastered on his face.

"Is that it?" Hera snapped at Hazel.

"Yeah."

"Okay off to bed, any volunteers to show them the way?"

"I'll do it," Poseidon said standing up, catching eyes with Annabeth, silently asking for answers, before leading the demigods from the room.

**O:O:O:O:O**

**A/N: Well there you have it, the next chapter will be the gods talking and the demigods talking, so no actual reading the book involved, though I may include a tiny bit, you'll have to wait and see. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm so sorry for the long wait, I'll try not to leave it so long again.**

**Quick question. If you could chose between anyone, either dead or alive, who would you bring in?**

**That it all for not, thank you for reading, please follow, favourite, and review.**

**-Ingradera**


	10. Tests And Talks

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately not mine.**

**A/N: I apologise for the break and I know that this chapter is only short, but I shall aim to get the next chapter of the book up shortly.**

**Thank you to all the people who reviewed, I can easily say that each one made my day and thank you to **Can't think **I have gone back to change that. Also originally Annabeth and Nico were from the Mark of Athena time range, but I changed my mind on that and forgot to change it in the story, but it has been done now, so thank you again there.**

**Anyway thank you once more for the reviews and for staying with me onto the chapter and I promise I shall get the next one up soon, hopefully within a week, though it may be a bit later. Sorry.**

**O:O:O:O:O**

Once the children had left the room, Zeus turned to face the rest of the gods which were still present, confusing and determination dancing together across his face for all to see. "What are we going to do about this? They are not meant to know about each other, that's why they're in different placed them at different sides of the country, so that they never meet!"

"Calm brother," Hestia scolded her youngest brother softly, "They were sent here for a reason and those who are here are here for a reason, so they must have had a large part to play in the Great Prophecy, or at some other point. We know that the future is not going to be present even from the few hints that we've been allowed so far."

"But how do we know if we can trust them?" Athena asked, suspicion leaking into her tone.

Many around the room started to sound their approval, though not all, surprisingly it was Artemis who spoke up, "We don't, but that doesn't mean that we judge them from the start."

"Says the famous man hater," Aphrodite accused her half sister.

Artemis turned to her sister, glare full of ice, "Just because not all of us wish to get in the underwear of every slightly good-looking male we see!"

"Enough!" Roared Poseidon as he strolled leisurely back into the room, where he reclaimed his seat, before turning to his niece, "Tell us Artemis, what do you suggest we do?"

"Simple, we give each of them the chance to prove their selves, but it should be their parent who tests them I think, purely because then they may trust you more and be more likely to believe nothing is wrong."

Looking around the room you could tell that everyone was thinking hard about how they were going to do it, but it was Hera who brought fourth her variation of the task, "Why don't we carry on reading so that we are better acquainted with the children and then it also will make them less suspicious. When this Percy child appears, we shall test him, because he seems to be a leader at both camps at the moment, but then again so does Jason, so we should test them both together."

After only a short pause Zeus asked, "All in favour?"

Every hand in the room rose, even if some –like Poseidon's- took a bit of time.

"You'd do that to your son?" Hermes asked outraged.

Poseidon shrugged, "I trust my boy; it's as simple as that."

"Okay, now that's decided, onto other business."

**O:O:O:O:O**

Large bronze doors closed behind them, almost as though they were locking the demigods out and knowing the gods, that would be exactly what was happening.

"I suggest that you use this time to get to know each other and about what you've all been through. But also think about sleeping also, if tomorrow is anything like how today turned out, it's going to be a long day. Also it may be a good idea to be back here at 8 o' clock sharp."

With those words Poseidon turned on his heal and left without a backwards glance, leaving them standing there watching as they left.

"Well then," Frank started slightly awkwardly, "Anybody know where we're meant to be going?"

Annabeth glanced at him for a second until when she turned to share a small smile with a few of her friends and replying in a voice that made him believe that the perfectly normal question was actually a stupid one, "Of course, we don't need to go anywhere, we're already here."

Before she had even finished talking, the blond pushed open a beautifully carved door reviling a long corridor which had twenty-four equally perfectly sculptured entrances, twelve on each side. Each had a symbol engraved above it to represent which Olympian it belonged to, additionally the character was encircled in either blue or pink. Those on the right were pink while the left ones were blue.

Upon noticing this Piper let loose a slight of relief, "Well at least we don't have mixed rooms like the cabins at camp, but why are they only twelve different rooms?"

"Remember, this is the past, the world and camp you know hasn't taken place yet."

For many hours after they all sat in Hermes' room for the males discussing their pasts, the past in general, and naturally the subject or person that they all were thinking about: Percy Jackson. Many hours later they took it in turns to leave for their own rooms before the next day of reading was to commence.

**O:O:O:O:O**

Turn 8am the following morning 14 teens walked through the doors, looking as though they had just been risen from the dead, but as soon as they saw the food which stood on small tables in front of each chair, they regained their energy rather fast. The minuets dragged on in silence as the demigods and oracle ate, until each plate was occupied by only crumbs.

"Out of curiosity," Annabeth asked confidently, "What is happening in the outside world while we're here?"

"Funny you should ask daughter, as we asked ourselves the same thing last night, so we paused time in all time zones off of Olympus and while you are here it is unable for you to die."

Silence met the answer, though the understanding ran clear on each face.

"Well if that is everything, can we start?" Zeus asked impatiently.

Before anyone had the chance to respond, yet another bright light flooded the room.

**O:O:O:O:O**

**A/N: Far from one of my best, though the little bit where they can't die while there will come become important at some point and gold star if you can guess why :D**

**So who do you think is coming in now?**

For those interested I have made a Facebook page under **Ingradera**, where it will say when I have updated, ideas for stories and other things also.

**Until next time**

**-Ingradera**


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